47 replies to this topic

[smokeyJoe]

I'm afraid that Babalu has been put down this afternoon. He perked up a lot when he got to the vets, but when he was weighed last week he was over 170 grams and looked very skinny, when he was weighed today he was less than 140. I am just glad he is at peace as it was breaking our hearts seeing him so unwell. Thanks for your help.

[HamstersInHollyWood]

This will help when I get my Dwarf hammy

[ThePipsqueakery]

You're so lucky that you got the oral medication to work in your dwarf hamsters. We have had 2 so far that we caught in time to treat (one we didn't) and neither responded substantially to metformin or glipizide (there was a bit of water consumption decrease with glipizide but not enough, and no decrease in glucose in the urine). Fortunately, they both respond(ed) to insulin injections so we have still been successful in treating it, but I am sad the oral medication didn't work because they both really loved that.

 

A.J. loved her metformin, she doesn't love the insulin nearly as much:

 

[missPixy]

how old were the hamsters who were treated? I have found that if a hamster

has had the illness for a substantial amount of time, neither medication will

work because their body pH has already damaged their internal organs too

much.

 

also, some hamsters respond better to the glucophage than to glipizide since

they work a bit differently. in hamsters with an already established disease 

and damaged internal organs, the glucophage works better.

 

I've also found that extremely young hamsters who already show advanced

symptoms of diabetes do not respond to either.

 

the research I'd found discussed the high stress level caused by insulin

injections and how this in turn can affect glucose readings. 

 

how often do you inject the insulin? and how/where? peritoneal?

 

what was the strength of the medications you used? my vet used 10mg

tablets that she formulated herself and diluted down to the dosing based

on each hamster's weight. were you using the liquid version of the meds?

[ThePipsqueakery]

Alright, so first I will respond to your questions directly:

 

Q: how old were the hamsters who were treated? 

A: Toffee was approximately a year old. Given that we watch their water consumption and weight quite closely I doubt he was showing signs of diabetes long before we caught it. 

 

Q: Also, some hamsters respond better to the glucophage than to glipizide since they work a bit differently. in hamsters with an already established disease  and damaged internal organs, the glucophage works better.

A: Well since we tried both I think we covered the bases there. We started with glipizide because its mechanism of action is substantially safer as glipizide works by stimulating insulin production in the beta cells of pancreatic tissue. Of course, this won't work if the immune system has attacked and destroyed those cells (which is what happens with most Type 1 diabetes), or if the pancreas is damaged in some other way. When glipizide failed to work we moved to metformin (which is glucophage). This was obviously our second choice as its mechanism of action has the potential to be significantly more dangerous as it works by suppressing glucose production by the liver, increasing intestinal absorption of glucose, and increasing peripheral glucose uptake and utilization. The more aggressive mechanism of action had the potential to be successful where glipizide had failed, but also had an increased risk of hypoglycemia. In the end neither worked though.  

 

Q: I've also found that extremely young hamsters who already show advanced symptoms of diabetes do not respond to either.

A: I suspect that A.J. (our current diabetic hamster) is one of the ones that has what approximates Type 1 juvenile onset diabetes. She is still quite young (somewhere between 4-6 months) and did not respond to glipizide or metformin. She is responding beautifully to insulin though and she hasn't deteriorated like Toffee did. Unfortunately, I actually think Toffee's diabetes was also genetic as he was from a breeder who bred for snake food, and his brother also died very young before we could confirm diabetes. His did have a later onset though. It's possible that it was delayed by the fact that we got him at a very young age (approximately 4 weeks old) and fed him a diabetic friendly diet (like we do for all of our at risk hamsters). My biggest regret with Toffee is actually wasting so much time trying to get the glipizide and metformin to work. If we had moved to insulin more quickly his quality and length of life would have likely been greatly improved. A.J. is benefitting from our previous experience though so it wasn't for nothing. 

 

Q: the research I'd found discussed the high stress level caused by insulin injections and how this in turn can affect glucose readings. How often do you inject the insulin? and how/where? peritoneal?

A: In my experience the stress of injections is minimal at worst. It takes approximately 3 seconds to give a quick injection into the scruff of the neck as insulin is a subcutaneous injection not a  peritoneal injection. I was extremely concerned about the quality of life implications for twice a day injections for a hamster, and I wouldn't do them on a hamster that is distressed by handling. However, in my experience it is only the handling (i.e. restraint by scruffing) that causes any stress at all. Occasionally Toffee would let out a tiny squeak when he received his injection, and A.J. doesn't even seem to notice them. We use 31 gauge needles, which is honestly less painful than a mosquito bite (I get three injections a week with 29 gauge needles which I don't even feel so I'm talking from experience).  I suppose if someone were to give an injection poorly it would be rather painful (and I have had people give me bad injections, so I do also know that), but as long as you don't screw it up they don't even seem to notice the tiny needle going in most of the time. Of course, stress can impact glucose in the urine readings, but given my experience I highly doubt insulin injections are stressful enough to cause that with a hamster that trusts you and knows a yummy (healthy) treat was coming after. Toffee always hopped out of his nest and into our hands for his twice a day injections so I suppose he didn't hate them that much. 

 

Q: what was the strength of the medications you used? my vet used 10mg tablets that she formulated herself and diluted down to the dosing based

on each hamster's weight. were you using the liquid version of the meds?

A: The glipizide was a 1mg/ml suspension started at a very low dose and titred up up to an exceptionally high dose over time. I'm not actually going to post the dosages we started on and ended on (or the progression records) because I don't think people should look to here for dosing recommendations, but suffice it to say it should have been therapeutic, but it was not for glucose levels in the urine or symptoms. The metformin was much more potent at a 10mg/ml suspension and also was started at a low dose working up to a very high dose twice a day. It also did not help. These were both compounded by a specialty compounding pharmacy. I believe the glipizide was compounded from tablets, and the metformin from a liquid version, either way they were appropriately compounded and dosed for each hamster based on weight.

 

Ultimately NPH insulin twice a day has been far more successful for me. I strongly suspect that, much like in humans, the oral medications work far better when the cause of the diabetes is somehow related to diet/exercise (essentially a type 2 diabetes). This would actually likely support your theory of a "type 3 diabetes" (although it would still actually be type 2) as in humans type 2 diabetes can be essentially "cured" if treatment is successful and diet and exercise are maintained. I imagine the same would be true for hamsters (also there is actually a theoretical type 3 diabetes in humans that has something to do with alzheimers, but I won't go on about that). So, if there was some more "external" cause of diabetes in some of your hamsters it would make sense that getting things under control with oral medication could actually result in them being essentially cured thus no longer needing treatment. Unfortunately, when the pancreas is no longer producing insulin at all then the only solution is insulin injections as neither glipizide or metformin will work. This is likely why you don't see glipizide or metformin working in hamsters that have a very early onset of diabetes. Similarly there is likely too much internal damage in hamsters that have suffered with diabetes for an extended amount of time for glipizide or metformin to work effectively and therefore insulin injections are the only treatment.   

 

I find diabetes a fascinating topic so I'm quite interested in talking about it. 

 

 

Then I will tell Toffee's story. Unfortunately Toffee passed away back in February, but we have since ended up with a much younger dwarf hamster, A.J. with diabetes:

 

I’ve seen a lot of talk about diabetic hamsters lately so I thought I would share our story of dealing with diabetes in our dwarf hamster Toffee. Of course, there are already great resources out there so spend some time researching for yourself if you ever face this problem. I'll also add that this is not medical advice. This is simply our experience attempting to manage diabetes in a dwarf hamster. You should always consult your vet about your own hamster’s illness, and never assume that glucose or ketones in the urine necessarily means diabetes. There are other conditions that can cause that and a vet is definitely the best person to diagnose your hamster. Additionally, I make no claim that the path we took was the best course of action for every hamster. It was right for us with this particular hamster, but we could come to a different conclusion next time we have a hamster showing signs of diabetes. 

 

So, this story actually starts in October 2012 when we went to an exotic animal expo and bought two little 4-8 week old dwarf hamsters, Toffee and Speck, from a person breeding dwarf hamsters as feeders for reptiles. We knew that they almost certainly had poor genetics, were probably hybrids, and likely were at risk for diabetes. From that point forward they lived in our home with lovely cages, lots of toys, and a good diet. Their diet was part Harlan Teklad 2018 rodent blocks (good protein, low fiber), part oxbow hamster food (low protein & lots of fiber, but not really well loved by hamsters), and part custom seed/grain/legume mix homemade by us with approximately 18% protein, 6% fat, and 9% fiber. 

 

For a year things went fairly well. Speck went blind, but wasn’t really bothered by that, and Toffee was very healthy. Then on October 1, 2013 tragedy struck, and we found our little Speck struggling for his life. Of course, it was the middle of the night on Sunday, the nearest emergency vet that will even see our hamsters is about 2 hours away, and Speck ended up dying in my hands shortly after we found him. It seemed likely that it was acute kidney failure that killed Speck, and there was probably nothing we could have done. 

 

After that loss we started watching Toffee even more closely as we suspected genetics played a role in Specks problems. The first hint that something might have been wrong was on November 13, 2013 when Toffee weighed in at 59 grams (about 2 grams less than normal). Of course, we were able to brush off the 2 gram loss as normal variation. In retrospect Toffee might have been drinking a little more than normal at this point but it was barely noticeable. Then on November 22, 2013 I was holding Toffee and he felt like he had lost some weight so I weighed him and he was down to 52 grams. At that point I realized he had been drinking and peeing more, and I thought we were probably looking at diabetes. 

 

We tested his urine with keto-diastix (http://amzn.to/1fOXAsl) and discovered that he had high glucose and no ketones in his urine. We decided to monitor him for the moment because our vet is approximately 2 hours away, it was a Friday, and the next week was full schedule of classes followed by Thanksgiving (so nothing was open). We monitored him, and tried some fenugreek seeds to see if we could get the glucose in his urine down that way first. There wasn’t really anything we could change in his diet as it was already good for a hamster with diabetes, and he wasn’t an overweight hamster so we didn’t really think it was that. Toffee stayed pretty stable with his weight fluctuating between 55-52 grams, but his water consumption was still quite high, and there was still glucose in his urine. 

 

As we weren’t seeing a change we decided to make an appointment with our vet and on December 6, 2013 we braved the massive snow storm that had hit our area and headed out for the vet. Toffee weighed in at 51 grams (so pretty consistent still). The vet did a blood test and found out his blood was quite lipemic (high fat content) which could be for a variety of reasons, diabetes included, but the high fat content screwed up the glucose reading. Because she didn't feel like she could comfortably diagnose diabetes without accurate information she wanted to use a glucometer to test blood from a nail quick. I knew Toffee needed meds if he was going to have any quality of life going forward so we went for it. She also tested his urine which, of course, was full of glucose. She wasn't really sure what to do because she hadn't had a chance to deal with diabetes in hamsters before. I suggested glipizide and she said she would do some research, talk to her colleagues, and get back to me. We were given the option to leave him there or take him home, and decided to take him home. 

 

The next day, Saturday December 7, 2013, I talked to the other vet in the practice (who has more experience but had never dealt with this before either) and she thought insulin was the way to go. I wasn't comfortable with that yet and wanted to try oral medication first. I also weighed Toffee that day (less than 24 hours after taking him to the vet) and he weighed 48 grams. I was concerned but I figured the stress of the day before might be contributing and all I could do was keep moving forward with this. 

 

The next day, Sunday December 8, 2013, the first vet called me to tell me she had done some research and there wasn't really a whole lot of good research out there about using glipizide or insulin for hamsters. She said that she was willing to let me make the call about what to try so I decided that I wanted to try glipizide first. If it didn't work then we could talk about trying insulin, and if we felt the regular injections were hurting his quality of life we could always just stop and we would be no worse off. The next day, December 9, 2013, she called in the glipizide prescription to a compounding pharmacy, and the medication was going to be delivered that Thursday, December 12.

 

From the time we went to the vet on December 6 to the night the glipizide arrived we weighed Toffee water bottle every night ( 1 gram equals one milliliter of water) and discovered that for each 24 hour period he was drinking approximately 40 ml of water. Additionally, we decided that to keep tighter control on Toffee’s diet, and hopefully blood sugars, we would feed him lab blocks (harlan teklad) only and supplement the low fiber levels with some good daily veggies. 

 

[Here’s something I wrote about switching his diet: Anyway, for now we are sticking with harlan teklad+spinach+non-fat yogurt+a couple of other high fiber treats. It's hard to find the right thing here though because what he really needs is decent levels of protein (but not too much because of his age and potential for kidney damage), low fat (which is hard to hit when you up the protein), and high fiber (which is impossible to find in a lab block). A big part of the problem is that to control diabetes in humans you really need to keep tight control on blood sugar and diet, and with a hamster that is hard to do. We can't test blood glucose regularly (and certainly not before and after every meal), we can't drug him at precisely two hours before he eats to make sure his blood sugar stays in line, and we can't really restrict his food to accomplish any of those goals. The best we can do is try to get better control of his diet by using lab blocks and see if we can get the meds to work. I think he is going to need a higher dose ultimately or maybe twice a day small doses instead of once a day larger doses but we just kinda have to wait and see what happens at this point. My partner is in nursing school, so with his education on diabetes management, combined with my vets knowledge, and our many hours of research we just have to keep trying and see what we can get. I'm probably going to keep documenting it here though in hopes of helping someone out in the future.]

 

On December 12, 2013 the glipizide arrived from the compounding pharmacy. We were going to start off giving Toffee a very low dose of glipizide once a day and titer up from there. I did a urine test before giving him his first dose and it showed that his glucose was very very high and his ketones were at trace levels. We gave him a half dose of the glipizide that night because we weren’t sure how he would react. 

 

The next day, December 13, 2013, Toffee weighed 48 grams and at about 6:30pm we tested his urine again before the next dose. The urine test was pretty much exactly the same, high glucose and somewhere between trace and no ketones. However, when we measured his water consumption we discovered that in the 24 hours after his first half dose Toffee had drank only 29ml. At that time it gave us a lot of hope that the glipizide might work, but looking back at his records it seems pretty clear that, while on the low side, 29 ml was within the normal variation of how much Toffee was drinking. Later that night at about 11:30 we tested his urine again and it was still pretty consistent, although there appeared to have been a slight rise in ketones.

 

On December 14, 2013 Toffee weighed in at 47 grams and drank 32 ml of water. He was still on the very low dose of glipizide once a day and I suspected if we were going to see any results he was going to need a high dose in the long run. I knew we would probably never see no glucose in his urine, but I at least hoped he would start to gain weight and his water consumption would go down to a more reasonable level. 

 

Things stayed pretty consistent. On December 20th we left to go see my family for Christmas, and took Toffee with us. Our records are lacking a bit from that time period, but nothing really changed. We slowly titered the glipizide up to a higher dose twice a day under the direction of our vet, but things didn’t really get better despite the fact that we were giving him at least 20x the dose we had started on. There were rarely any ketones in his urine, his glucose was always high, he drank a ton of water, and lost some more weight. It seemed like the diabetes was progressing and the glipizide just wasn’t doing anything. 

 

On December 30th, 2013 I wrote a message to our vet letting her know that the glipizide didn’t really seem to be working and I was willing to at least try insulin injections. I still had the same hesitations about insulin as I wasn’t sure daily injections would be good for Toffee’s quality of life, but Toffee didn’t really mind being handled and scruffed so I figured we could at least give it a try. 

 

On January 8, 2014 we took braved another awful snow storm (see a pattern here) to take Toffee to the vet. The vet checked his blood glucose again and we determined that the glipizide wasn’t doing much of anything one way or the other. She talked to her colleagues about how they normally start insulin in other animals, and the answer was basically send the pet home with the insulin and let the owners titer up slowly until we reach an effective level. Her big worry at that point was the risk of Toffee getting dehydrated, but since we are capable of giving subcutaneous fluids at home she felt fine sending him home with us to start the insulin. 

 

That night, January 8, 2014, we started once a day insulin injections at 8pm every night. Now, Toffee certainly wasn’t a fan of the injection, but honestly he didn't seem to be bother much. He would usually let out a short squeak when he got his shot, however, it was over in about 2 seconds and he would happily go back to cuddling us and eating a treat. 

 

We continued to increase his insulin dose until we were doing 5 units once a day. His urine tests continued to show the same, high glucose and no ketones, for the most part; he was drinking between 25-35 ml of water each day; but his weight continued to go down when we weighed him every night at 8pm.  Luckily, on January 22, 2014, just to satisfy my curiosity I weighed Toffee in the morning and discovered he weighed a whole lot more, at least 36-38 grams, at 12 hours after his insulin injection. This seemed to indicate that the insulin was working, but he wasn’t maintaining hydration once the insulin was out of his system. This seemed to indicate that we really needed to give him something in the morning because the insulin wasn’t lasting 24 hours. I called the vet and talked to her about adding metformin in at a low dose in the morning to see if we could avoid a second injection ( This article seemed to indicate that they had some success lowering the necessary dose of insulin when they added an older version of metformin, so there was at least some evidence that it might work: Meier H, Yerganian G. Spontaneous hereditary diabetes mellitus in the Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus). III. Maintenance of a diabetic hamster colony with the aid of hypoglycemic therapy. Diabetes. 1961 Jan-Feb;10:19-21.)

 

At 8pm on January 28, 2014 Toffee hit his lowest weight of 32 grams, and his tests were still showing no ketones and high glucose. On February 1, 2014 the metformin arrived and we started giving it to him in the mornings hoping it would help him during the day when there was less insulin in his system. We hoped that this would allow us to avoid a second injection. Plus, Toffee really enjoyed the sugar-free apple metformin and thought it was the best treat ever. 

 

Things started to get a little better after we added the metformin. His water consumption was the same, his urine tests were about the same, but he was maintaining his weight better. Unfortunately, on the morning of February 6, 2014 we tested his urine and his ketones were incredibly high. We immediately gave him an injection of insulin and at his next test that afternoon there were no more ketones in his urine but his glucose was still high. At that point we decided we couldn’t risk not giving two injections a day so we started doing morning and evening insulin injections. By this point we had gotten better at giving the shots and they were so quick that really it wasn’t a big deal for Toffee. 

 

Toffee started gaining weight immediately. The first day we gave him two insulin injections (2/6/14) he weighed 36 grams, and by the second day Toffee’s weight was consistently at 41-42 grams. Not only was his weight better he was suddenly drinking 22 ml of water on February 6th. By the next day, February 7th, he was down to 20 ml, and then on February 8th he was down to 17 ml of water.  At that point we were giving a lower dose of insulin in the morning and a higher one a night. Despite the great improvements in his weight and water consumption the glucose in his urine was still relatively high, if a little lower than it had been before. 

 

On February 10, 2014 I talked to our vet and let her know what was going on. She suggested trying the metformin twice a day before we upped the insulin again. His water consumption dropped to around 15 mls with the addition of the second dose of metformin, and the glucose in his urine dropped a little more although it was still very very high. 

 

Throughout all of this we had a lot of concerns about Toffee’s kidney function as kidneys are often damaged with uncontrolled diabetes. We had also had some issues with high levels of protein in his urine, but the only thing we could do was keep treating the diabetes and hope that it mitigated some of the damage. 

 

We upped his insulin dose a little more and on February 18th Toffee weighed in at 47 grams, drank only 11 ml of water, and had no ketones or glucose in his urine. He looked great! Of course, we assumed this was a one day fluke, but the next day it was the same, and, again, the next. He was active and happy, and got his weight all the way up to 49 grams (sometimes the scale would even flicker over to 50 grams).

 

Unfortunately, this couldn’t last. On Sunday February 23 Toffee had some clear protein strands in his urine so we planned to take him to the vet the next day fearing his kidneys were finally shutting down. He was acting normal though, drinking, weighing in fine, and being plenty active. Unfortunately, late that night he took a turn for the worse and his little body shut down. We knew it was the end and that his kidneys were likely failing, and since the vet was 2 hours away on a Sunday night (at about 11:30 pm when this started)  we knew we wouldn’t make it in time. We held him close, cuddled him, kept him warm and comfortable, and let him go peacefully. He was about 1 year 6-8 months old, very loved, and the best hamster I could have ever hoped for. 

 

In the end Toffee had almost a month of feeling and looking significantly better, and I strongly believe we would have lost him much sooner with no treatment. If I had it to do all over again I think I would still want to try the oral glipizide first to see if there were fast results like some people report, and then maybe have a try with the metformin if the glipizide didn’t work since the metformin seems to be more risky. That said, I think if I had this to do over again I would have moved on to insulin twice a day much more quickly assuming I was dealing with a hamster with a personality similar to Toffee’s. I probably would not go that far if the scruffing and injections were distressing to the hamster (as I have had hamsters that even handling is stressful for them), but I would make that determination based on the individual hamster. 

[missPixy]

what a fantastic new addition to the arsenal available to treat hamster diabetes!

I'm fascinated that this is a subcutaneous injection. probably the only drawback

is that some people are either too squeamish or just can't handle this kind of

administration. but subcutaneous injection is a very learnable skill, and really

handy to know in different situations of hamster health.

 

diet management can be tricky. I almost wonder if the dwarfs I had who seemed

to exhibit type 2ish diabetes at 3-4 months old had a mom who already had this

flavor of diabetes, and so she passed it on genetically to her offspring?

 

I ask this because from a diet perspective, all of my dwarfs eat the same thing.

so there seems to be a pre-disposition to diabetes already in place besides it

happening independently as a result of poor eating choices. Seymour, my first

dwarf who was started on the glucopahage, exhibited symptoms at 3 months

old (excessive drinking, peeing and weight gain.) 

 

when you gave Toffee the insulin for the first time, were you worried about how

she might react? I know the first time I administered the glucophage to Seymour,

I was terrified that I might be killing him as I was trying to help him. it didn't help

either that the day after his first dose, his previously negative ketone reading

shot up off the charts. his glucose reading however fell a lot. over the next few

days his ketones disappeared again and the glucose reading increased a bit

before disappearing a few weeks later.

 

thanks so much for sharing this treatment option! I know I will definitely use this

in the future if I have a diabetic dwarf who doesn't show any positive response to

oral medications.

 

oh, and also~~

 

"Then on October 1, 2013 tragedy struck, and we found our little Speck struggling for his life. Of course, it was the middle of the night on Sunday, the nearest emergency vet that will even see our hamsters is about 2 hours away..."

 

Isn't this always the way? "middle of the night on Sunday." UG. 

[ThePipsqueakery]

Q. Diet management can be tricky. I almost wonder if the dwarfs I had who seemed to exhibit type 2ish diabetes at 3-4 months old had a mom who already had this

flavor of diabetes, and so she passed it on genetically to her offspring?

A. Well, Type 2 diabetes also likely has a strong genetic component. It's not necessarily caused by poor diet or lack of exercise in humans either. Although the exact cause of type 2 diabetes isn't really perfectly understood it seems to be some combination to genetics, risk factors (such as diet and exercise), hormonal variations, and probably a million other things. So, those babies could have been genetically predisposed to developing some form of diabetes whether it is type 1 or type 2. 

 

Q. I ask this because from a diet perspective, all of my dwarfs eat the same thing. so there seems to be a pre-disposition to diabetes already in place besides it

happening independently as a result of poor eating choices. Seymour, my first dwarf who was started on the glucopahage, exhibited symptoms at 3 months

old (excessive drinking, peeing and weight gain.) 

A. It's interesting that in your experience one of the symptoms of diabetes was weight gain. Generally in insulin dependent diabetes (so type 1) you'll actually see the opposite where, for example, a child with type 1 diabetes will not grow or gain weight. Often children with type 1 diabetes are actually quite underweight and tiny. That was actually more in line with my experience, as the first sign that something was wrong with Toffee was his weight loss. As the diabetes progressed in him he went from a start of 61 grams to something like 33 grams at his worst. This might be another way to determine whether a hamster will likely respond to oral medication (if they are gaining weight) or insulin (if they are losing weight). 

 

Q. When you gave Toffee the insulin for the first time, were you worried about how she might react? I know the first time I administered the glucophage to Seymour,

I was terrified that I might be killing him as I was trying to help him. 

A. Absolutely terrified. We started off on a really low dose though, 1/10 of a unit, so I wasn't too worried that he would die from it, but it was still nerve wracking. He ended up on a much much higher dose though and there's a bit of research out there that indicates that hamsters are highly resistant to insulin so require much higher dosing for their size than other animals. 

 

 

 

 

Isn't this always the way? "middle of the night on Sunday." UG. 

 

Yep, it's always that way. 

Edited by ThePipsqueakery, 21 August 2014 - 12:48 AM.

[♥ 600Kibbles ♥]

Great topic

[No Longer Active]

.

Edited by Pandas Pets, 04 December 2018 - 03:55 AM.

[missPixy]

These all look negative ketones to me. And ketones alone usually aren't a sign of diabetes. The appearance of ketones in the urine can indicate a diet low/lacking in carbohydrates.

[Sammi0907]

 

My girl, Panda Bear started on Glipizide today.

She was determined to be healthy enough. This is why testing the urine for glucose and keytones for any diabetes prone hamster is so important. You might catch that they are in fact diabetic without major symptoms going on.

If I had waited until the symptoms were really bad and/or keytones in the urine, She would not have been deemed healthy enough for the treatment.

I hope to be able to report good news in a week or so.

This is what I got from my vet:

Glipizide (Glucotrol) (10 mg tab) (1 tab)
Concentration: 1mg/ml
Give .01 ml by mouth TWICE daily at 10-12 hour intervals.
Keep Refrigerated.

The solution is mixed in a non-sugar serum.. not sure exactly what it is.

 


Hi, tinypixie
Does"Give .01 ml by mouth"mean"0.01 ml"?

Edited by Sammi0907, 30 June 2016 - 01:54 PM.

[missPixy]

dosings depend on the size of the hamster and the strength of the dilution.

 

I'm at work now but when I get home I can record the strength of the medication my dwarfs were given. 

[Sammi0907]

dosings depend on the size of the hamster and the strength of the dilution.

 

I'm at work now but when I get home I can record the strength of the medication my dwarfs were given. 

thank you, my local vets know nothing about hamsters. This topic is really helpful.

I have a diabetic hamster (Dwarf Russian Hamster), the urine test strip showed glucose was "2000++++", but he hasn't show any symptoms of diabetes. I feed him with fenugreek seeds for 2 months but made no changes. Then I was advised to use Chlorella tabs. So I feed him fenugreek seeds daily , two Chlorella tabs a week and high fiber vegetables as well. 2 month later, no glucose no ketones. I test his urine twice a week, he seems to be cured since then. I dont konw why but it works. 

 

I dont think diabetes can be cured and I'm still worried about recurrence. Maybe glipizide.can save him one day,

[missPixy]

May I ask how you got the urine sample that you tested?

[Sammi0907]

 

May I ask how you got the urine sample that you tested?

 

He usually urinated on the bath sand in his bathroom which is a plastic container.When I want to get the urine sample, I poured the bath sand away and washed his bathroom then put it back in the cage. After he peed in the empty bathroom I tested the urine.Sometimes I waited for hours to get the sample. I have tried to put him in a container out of cage once to get the sample, but he didnt pee in 30 mins.

Edited by Sammi0907, 05 July 2016 - 04:58 PM.