Russian Campbells Coat colour diabetes link

[Pouchy]

Just being curious here as one of my dwarf hamsters died of diabetes 9 months old. His coat colour was the common wild agouti, sometimes known as normal colour. His cage mate is grey and has no symptoms at all.

The colour agouti is like this:



So, in the interests of scientific enquiry, if anyone on this forum has or had dwarf russian hamster(s) with diabetes could they say what the coat colour was?

If there are enough responses we may be able to determine whether or not there might be a link between coat colour and the incidence of diabetes in dwarf hamsters so that intending pet owners can purchase hams which are not likely to have diabetes some time in their short lives.

Thank you.

My diabetic Campbell was agouti too.

[souffle]

Are you only interested in Campbells Pouchy or all dwarfs? Not my hamsters, but I know of three WW marbled normals who have had diabetes.

[Pouchy]

I was only going to do Russian campbells but if other hamsters have diabetes then, so long as I know the species and the coat colour, it won't matter. They can be included in the survey. Cannot think of a reason why not?

The more info that people provide, the more useful the result at the end.

Souffle, it doesn't matter who's hamsters they are. (Good heavens Souffle's actually got diabetic hams. How dreadful! She'll never be able to live this down )

[souffle]

As this is only a statistical analysis it is unimportant who the owner is.
Personally I would be quite happy to tell on the forum if my hamster had a problem (and frequently have) however if it is not yours then the anonymity of the owner is important

[I_am_plankton]

I don't think it is linked to colour as a Campbell is a Campbell at the end of the day, and many colours are produced from Agouti several generations down.

It is quite well known that Campbells are prone, particularly pet shop ones

[Pouchy]

Thanks, I am plankton (great name by the way, phyto or zoo?) but let's see if you are right by collecting some data first. Cancha tell I'm a scientist through and through. Who knows, maybe some colour variations are less prone to diabetes than others even tho as you say they are all descended from the normal agouti colour. So, in that case, what we are expecting to see is an even spread where any coat coloured dwarfie will get diabetes.

[Spuds Mum]

No dwarfies with diabetes so nothing valuable to add apart from:
although you could tell whether it is a spread or not, one assumes that as agouti is wild colour, there will be more of them in existence, so to be statistically valid, this would need to be taken into account.

though how one would identify the ratio of each colour I am not sure..
...mmm lovely research - I miss it in my recent job, I used to do a lot of research at one time too.

[littlemissdwarfhamster]

My diabetic Campbells were all normals (agouti wild colour) - and all rescues so I dont know there history.

I had a diabetic marbled WW recently. Her parents are not diabetic, though her Mum does drink more than your average dwarf. At least one of her sisters is very diabetic (but doing well) and another sister seems to be ok. Funny thing is though they affected marbleds are again normals, the sapphire marbles in the litter dont seem affected.

[Pouchy]

How many were diabetic, littlmissetc. The numbers are needed.