Diabetic degu - food management

[alex75]

Hello all

The latest addition to my rescue family is a exteamly fat degu aprox 2 - 3 years old, she has the start of diabites I beleve as she is so over weight as well as cloudly eyes and excessive water intake.

She seems ok in her self but I want too no how too progress , will she live a full life? Diatribe management ? Will she end up being put down ? Compromised immune systome ?

Any info is much appreciated !

Kind regards
Alex

[moletteuk]

I wish I knew more about diabetes in degus, I'm always surprised it doesn't crop up more often. I have some experience of diabetes in dwarf hamsters.

When you have an overweight degu showing signs of diabetes, then it makes me think it is more of a type 2 diabetes situation, where the obesity is possibly a factor in causing the diabetes, or making it worse. Type 1 diabetes, that we associate more with degus, usually presents quite severely and with weight loss, because they just can't process enough energy from their food.

Have you confirmed the diabetes with urine test strips, keto-diastix?

If you can control it well with diet, she may have a good future.

I'd say priority is to try to get her weight down. I have an overweight degu who I am trying to get to lose weight, because I worry about diabetes for her, but I'm not finding it so simple to get her weight down, I reduce the food and she reduces her activity. You can try to increase hay and forage consumption and reduce hard feed. Also try to encourage activity.

Anyway, dietwise, the same rules apply as for healthy degus, you just have to be stricter. So that means as little sugar as possible, this usually means checking the veg she eats as part of main feed mix and supplements/ treats. Try to get rid of all corn, carrot, parsnip, peas, & beetroot. The second thing is to get as much fibre into her as possible, most things with fibre also have some carbs in, the fibre allows the body to process the carbs better. The fibre also allows better hydration, which is very valuable if they are drinking a lot. The drinking is to flush out the toxins that build up in a diabetic body. Also keep protein and fat low.

[alex75]

Hello

Thanks for the reply , the diabites has been confirmed but the surgery is not expryanced with degus so was unable too offer a lot of advice. She seems to get scared at night when the lights off It must be horrible too lose your sight, when I got her I found cake biscuit and choc bars all burried in her cage !!!

Could she get type 1 diabites ? I have started a reduced food diet uping her hay also I'm using the stairs for cardio lol I hope she can live some quality of life ...

[alex75]

I'm very concerned every where I read it says she will die very soon !!!! Has any one had a diabetic degu ?

Thanks,
Alex

[deguconvert]

Some diabetes seems to have a very abrupt and severe onset, causing extreme and rapid weightloss, and this form is always fatal. Though some may last a little longer than others, most die very soon, before or after diagnosis. I think it is a hopeful thing that your degu is not showing the severe and rapid weightloss . . . that would be distressing indeed. I think that if you are able to begin slowly introducing more natural food products to her diet (you don't want to go too fast and overwhelm her systems with it all) you will be helping her body to purge itself of the sugar load, and to grow in health. There are degus that have lived well balanced and healthy lives after discovery of diabetes, and this seems to be mostly controlled through diet. There is always the potential that it might spontaneously transform into the more aggressive form, but hopefully this will not happen.

I would recommend looking through the various threads in this board, especially those that deal with natural nutrition, 50% natural nutrition, natural food options, grains, grass seeds, other seeds, vegetables, etc. and these will give you good ideas for potential alternatives to feed her. You can go as natural as you want, though you must remember to introduce new foods slowly and give her body time to adjust to all the changes, or you can do a mix of commercial food and natural foods. There are members here that have been using natural foods for a number of years and have shared that their degus improved in health significantly as a result.

If you have questions about anything that you read or come across, please do ask them! We'll do our best to be of help to you!!

[moletteuk]

Try not to stress, you can only do your best for her and hope for the best. It sounds like by coming to you she is going to be getting a massive improvement in her circumstances and diet, so this could make a huge difference to her.
I really think you have reason to be hopeful as she is overweight. Animals that die from diabetes usually die because they cannot process enough energy from food, they start burning up all their fat and then their muscles, and toxins are produced from the chemical processes and they go into ketoacidosis and organ failure. In this typical scenario you have a severely underweight animal, they will be showing aggression and mood swings because it's really unpleasant for them when they can't process carbs and are producing ketones.
You can monitor for yourself how bad the diabetes is if you get some keto-diastix. The stick goes a different shade depending on how concentrated the glucose and ketones are. The diabetes is more severe, or less well controlled if you are getting positive results for ketones. You can also get an idea how she is from her behaviour and water consumption.

Make sure there aren't any hidden sugars in her food, molasses, fructose, glucose, dextrose and so on are all sugars to be avoided. Look for some herb mixes for her, or dry out some low sugar veg such as celery, broccoli, cauliflower, salad leaves, courgette.