Does he drink too much?

[pinkneon]

Hey, although Syrian hamsters (I'm assuming yours is?) aren't prone to diabetes, they can still get it! The last hamster I had a couple of years ago (he was a Syrian) got diabetes!

[Penguin]

Hey pinkneon
I'm aware that all hamsters can get diabetes, I just mentioned in one of my earlier posts that my vet said no hamster species were prone to it, so I thought she was convinced that hamsters didnt get it at all! Thank you for the info though (: Browney is a hybrid between.

[pinkneon]

Oh ok sorry. I think I misread it!

[Penguin]

nonono dont be sorry! I'm happy you told me C:

[Penguin]

Alright so the vet confirmed that he as diabetes, actually she sounded concerned about how he had a ton of glucose in his urine.
Now she phoned me with the results from the test and it wasn't the main vet that I usually see. This vet finished her education not long ago, thing is, she couldn't tell me how to get his glucose levels down. Only that it wasn't possible to medicate him and that he of course shouldn't be fed any sugars. She said if it got much worse, he was facing the risk of becoming blind, though she probably worded that badly. I guess everyone with diabetes has a risk of it affecting their eyesight?

If any of you know a way to get the level of glucose down please let me know. I'm kinda concerned about this as the vet sounded surprised about how high the level of glucose was.
So far I have fed him some broccoli and removed his treatsticks (even though there were no sugary ingredients in them at all) just to be safe.

[cypher]

I'm so sorry to hear this Penguin.
Managing diabetes isn't easy, keep his food high in protein, high in fibre & low in fat, millet is actually good for diabetic hams & other complex carbs like whole grains can be good too, you don't want to remove carbs from the diet just any simple sugars.
Vectis has some useful info on her site here that might help.
I'm not sure why the vet mentioned blindness in particular unless she was seeing some kind of problem with his eyes, you're right blindness is a potential complication with diabetes but not usually something that happens early on.

[Penguin]

Thank you for repeating yourself Cypher. I'm kinda terrible at this and not very independent at times where I find something scary haha.
I guess I just really wish there was a step to step guide saying:
1. do this
2. do that
3. wait 5 minutes and he is fixed

Though I understand that it wouldn't go that fast...

I read that article already but thank you for reminding me. People on here have been really helpful and calming as always - and very patient!

The vet mentioned blindness because I asked her if I should expect anything to follow the diabetes. So I guess I kinda pulled it out of her.

I will write a simple list with all the information everyone has shared, to keep by his cage so I can look at it until I stop worrying about the diabetes

I think if worry had a human form I would be it