Is my hamster diabetic or not

[Hamstermom96]

Hello everyone !

I recently took my hamster to the vets to check his overall health and I asked about diabetes too. The vet tested my hamster's blood and said he isn't diabetic.
I always worried about that because he drinks a lot of water and pees quite a lot but he's always done that so it's not exactly a change in behaviour.
I got the keto diastix urine strips a while ago (like 2 months ago) because they seem to be recommended on the internet. If I go by the urine strips my hamster would be diabetic and I tested him multiple times on different days.
The vet said he isn't diabetic but I don't know what to think now. He also seems to groom himself more which I read it can be a sign of diabetes but he started doing it when I changed his bedding to carefresh mixed with paper bedding. He used to have woodshavings and paper bedding so I'm thinking that could be just the change in bedding.
The vet I went to is an exotic vet and they seem to have good reviews , the vet was knowledgeable and he didn't mind my hamster biting him because he said he got used to it so that means he's seen other hamsters . It would be terrible if I couldn't trust a vet but why do the urine strips always show diabetes?

[Ria P]

Hello and welcome to HC!

What species of hamster do you have and how old is he?

Generally speaking, dwarfs and especially hybrids are more prone to diabetes than Syrians.

I had a diabetic dwarf hybrid who i tested with keto sticks. He was also drinking and peeing excessively. Not only that, the glucose in his urine caused mould on wood so i changed all his furnishings to washable items.

I'd get a second opinion but personally, wouldn't put him through the stress of a blood test again.

I would have thought that a urine test would suffice.

Do you feel that you need to know for certain because you want to find out about treatment, if there is any?

[cloudy]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

[Hamstermom96]

Thank you

He is a 10 month dwarf hamster and most likely a hybrid. I had the mold too on a wooden toy a while ago so I changed the setup so his wooden toys don't sit close to the corners where he's likely to pee.
I'll try finding another exotic vet, they are so hard to find this time I'll just tell them straight away to use urine strips. I have no idea why this vet went for a blood test but it's probably quicker that way.
I'd like to know mainly because one day when he dies I don't want to feel like I could have done more. And also I don't know how often diabetes kills hamsters but I was reading that it can cause damage to other organs. So far I stopped giving him sweet treats from the pet shop and he never liked fruits anyway . He has his hamster food and broccoli/cucumber but not every day plus white fish 3 times a week and I've been doing this for 3 weeks now but no changes on the urine strips .

[Ria P]

I think it's similar to diabetes in humans. It's not the diabetes itself that kills but the damage it does.

I adopted a dwarf hybrid at 5 month old and he was ill already. I knew that his life expectancy was poor so we made the best of what we had.

I go to a general vet surgery but two of their vets are very hamster knowledgeable. In fact, the vet practice was recommended on this forum.

Avoid sugar and feed a good dwarf hamster mix plus veg like broccoli, cucumber, kale etc. which you are doing already.

With the keto sticks showing high glucose and going by your hamster's symptoms it is very likely that he is diabetic.

I'm not a vetenary professional though and this is only my opinion based on my experiences with my own hamster.

An experienced exotics vet may be able to treat it. I'm not sure, you'd need to look into that. I didn't opt for any treatments because i didn't want to stress a hamster who had mental health issues along with diabetes. Stress in itself can make it worse. I decided to let nature take it's course but to intervene should he start to suffer.