Post by spottydegu on Feb 4, 2023 15:28:09 GMT
Hi,
Chip has seemed a bit different recently, and has doing not much apart from eating and drinking a lot more than usual. She's recently developed a cataract in one eye, but I've noticed a decline in their vision for a few months now (They're both approx 7 years old) I've started monitoring her weight over the last few days but need a new scales as I'm depending on the non-digital kitchen ones currently, so one is arriving tomorrow. She's currently just under 200g whereas Drum is about 220g.
From what I've read on here its likely she's got diabetes, but I'm struggling to put all the information together so I have a few questions
1) I have seen I can possibly test her urine at home, is this true? Would a kit like www.amazon.co.uk/Parameter-Urine-Strips-Dipstick-Tests/dp/B095X5TQW9/ref=sr_1_6?crid=27LADH2FIWM7Y&keywords=glucose+test+strips+for+small+animals&qid=1675523800&sprefix=glucose+test+strips+for+small+animals%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-6 this do the job? I'm worried that a trip to the vets would really stress her out, especially as our closest vets that have good degu knowledge are about 45 minutes away.
2) How can I improve her diet? Right now she's eating P@H nuggets and lots of hay, with some Nigella and Celery seeds, and the occasional sunflower. The nigella and celery are a recent addition (past week) to try and increase her calcium for her teeth. I've seen lots of diet information and would be really useful for someone to summarise it as much as possible.
3) Apart from the diet is there anything else I should do? I'm no longer going to move things around the cage as she isn't seeing as well.
Chip has seemed a bit different recently, and has doing not much apart from eating and drinking a lot more than usual. She's recently developed a cataract in one eye, but I've noticed a decline in their vision for a few months now (They're both approx 7 years old) I've started monitoring her weight over the last few days but need a new scales as I'm depending on the non-digital kitchen ones currently, so one is arriving tomorrow. She's currently just under 200g whereas Drum is about 220g.
From what I've read on here its likely she's got diabetes, but I'm struggling to put all the information together so I have a few questions
1) I have seen I can possibly test her urine at home, is this true? Would a kit like www.amazon.co.uk/Parameter-Urine-Strips-Dipstick-Tests/dp/B095X5TQW9/ref=sr_1_6?crid=27LADH2FIWM7Y&keywords=glucose+test+strips+for+small+animals&qid=1675523800&sprefix=glucose+test+strips+for+small+animals%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-6 this do the job? I'm worried that a trip to the vets would really stress her out, especially as our closest vets that have good degu knowledge are about 45 minutes away.
2) How can I improve her diet? Right now she's eating P@H nuggets and lots of hay, with some Nigella and Celery seeds, and the occasional sunflower. The nigella and celery are a recent addition (past week) to try and increase her calcium for her teeth. I've seen lots of diet information and would be really useful for someone to summarise it as much as possible.
3) Apart from the diet is there anything else I should do? I'm no longer going to move things around the cage as she isn't seeing as well.