Diabetes or something else?

Phan Trash · 05-14-2017, 02:14 PM

My 8 month old female hybrid, pumpkin isn't looking great. She's has a hunched posture, lost a lot of weight and she's more aggressive than normal. However besides the aggression she's acting normal and plays like normal. It looks like shes ageing but shes pretty young so it's not that. But I tested her using keto-sticks and her ketone levels came up quite high (3rd-2nd highest) and she's a diabetes prone species so I'm thinking diabetes. I have one other theory that because she was adopted she could be severely inbred and I don't know about it. Oh also I think she might have gone deaf

Please help do I need to go to the vet?

Crystalroborovski · 05-14-2017, 02:25 PM

It sure does sound like she has diabetes. What food are you feeding her?

Why do you think she has gone deaf? You can test this by lightly snapping your fingers or making a kissy noise near her ears to see if they twitch when you do this. If they don't then she is most likely deaf.

Inbred hammies often have health issues, so if her breeder didn't know the genetic backgrounds of her parent hams she could have been born with some issues.

If you are truly worried about her well being there isn't any harm in taking her to a vet. Good luck, and if you have more questions just ask

Phan Trash · 05-14-2017, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crystalroborovski

It sure does sound like she has diabetes. What food are you feeding her?

Why do you think she has gone deaf? You can test this by lightly snapping your fingers or making a kissy noise near her ears to see if they twitch when you do this. If they don't then she is most likely deaf.

Inbred hammies often have health issues, so if her breeder didn't know the genetic backgrounds of her parent hams she could have been born with some issues.

If you are truly worried about her well being there isn't any harm in taking her to a vet. Good luck, and if you have more questions just ask

Yeah her ears don't twitch when I make any sound but thanks I'll probably take her on friday. She's fed on burgess dwarf hamster harvest and I've just started taking out the pea flakes

AmityvilleHams · 05-14-2017, 02:33 PM

You should never remove anything from a mix as it imbalances it

Burgess dwarf on its own is completely fine for diabetic hamsters though!

Crystalroborovski · 05-14-2017, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phan Trash

Yeah her ears don't twitch when I make any sound but thanks I'll probably take her on friday. She's fed on burgess dwarf hamster harvest and I've just started taking out the pea flakes

Ok, burgess is a fantastic food for diabetic prone hammies

but as amity said it isn't adviseable to remove any ingredients from the food.

If you think your ham isn't doing well at all you should try to get into the vet earlier if possible. Hamsters can go downhill very fast if they are ill. Good luck

Phan Trash · 05-14-2017, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crystalroborovski

Ok, burgess is a fantastic food for diabetic prone hammies

but as amity said it isn't adviseable to remove any ingredients from the food.

If you think your ham isn't doing well at all you should try to get into the vet earlier if possible. Hamsters can go downhill very fast if they are ill. Good luck

I can't get to the vet until friday which is annoying but if there is an emergency I can get there sooner and I've literally only removed the flakes for one meal but I'll keep them in, I just read somewhere that the pea flakes are high in sugar but I'll keep them in

Crystalroborovski · 05-14-2017, 02:51 PM

Oh ok, it won't hurt her to remove the flakes for one meal, just don't do it continually

That's too bad you can't get into the vet earlier. By all means take her to the emergency vet if you think she isn't doing good and is in pain.

cypher · 05-14-2017, 10:18 PM

The vet may not be able to do much for diabetes, some vets are more experienced with this than others though so if you have a good small animal vet then they may be able to help, I would definitely take her as soon as you can all the same.
Have a read through this as it will help you to understand management depending on the readings you get from the strips, this may vary over time so continue to test regularly.
Have a look at the info on Vectis site too.
I would leave the pea flakes in the mix, they are relatively high in sugars but also high in fibre (which helps slow the absorption of sugars so is important) as well as protein & vitamins & minerals.
Good luck with her, keep us posted & if you have more questions just ask.