guinea pig endocrinology!

RE: guinea pig endocrinology!

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:28:41 GMT

Our GP fructosamine range is 134-271 so I wouldn't get very excited about 272 generally but the insulin level is interesting as although I'm not aware of a normal range for GPs the bunny range is 18-33 and given the GI and diet similarities I'd expect them to have similar ranges.

Thanks for extra info, we'll add in insulin to our testing for these and see if we are picking up any with such low levels,

Marie

RE: guinea pig endocrinology!

Mair Tyler — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 20:24:46 GMT

Hi,

Her blood results were:

ALP 262iu/l (55-108)

ALT 24 (25-59)

Fructosamine 272 (so I suppose just borderline high)

Insulin <3.0ulU/ml

RE: guinea pig endocrinology!

Marie Kubiak — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 09:25:19 GMT

Thanks for the update, always interesting to hear what happens.

What was the fructosamine level? The ones we have done have usually been normal or only borderline high so it is good to be reassured that it is worth doing!

Marie

RE: guinea pig endocrinology!

Mair Tyler — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 16:51:24 GMT

Intended to update this sooner but kept going out of my head!

Owner of guinea pig number 1 has not been in touch again so not sure what's going on with that one.

Guinea pig number 2, I xrayed -no sign of urolithiasis. Repeat BG readings were all very high. We managed to get blood for biochemistry, fructosamine & insulin measurement. Biochem showed slight increase ALP, high glucose but otherwise ok. Fructosamine was high and insulin was not detectable. She continued to be PUPD though bright, normal appetite and maintaining her weight. We started her on Caninsulin at 0.5iu SID with little effect. At 1iu SID, she was drinking a little less and her BG measurements were a little less. Her owner then noticed most of her drinking was at night (getting insulin in the mornings) so we presumed short duration of action of insulin and changed her to twice daily insulin. We have had to gradually increase the dose and she is currently fairly stable on 2iu Caninsulin BID (she weighs about 1kg). We had her in for an overnight and did a curve with readings between 10.5-13.8 throughout the day. We also sampled her sister who was in for company and she had readings between 4-8.

RE: guinea pig endocrinology!

Marie Kubiak — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 09:33:20 GMT

Hi,

case 1: PU/PD can be related to UTIs, urolithiasis, oral pain, renal Dz and endocrine pathology. Of these endocrine causes are the least common and I would be tempted to look at other differentials first. A blood sample (conscious via medial femoral vein if a calm pig, under GA and using the cranial vena cava if not!), dental examination and a survey radiograph would be useful. Ask the owner to bring a urine sample from home and this can be used for urine cortisol:creatinine ratio (a clinic sample can have sky high cortisol due to massive stress response), plus normal urinalysis. If there is indication of infection and no stone is evident on rads then an ultrasound guided cysto for culture is useful. If urinary cortisol is high then ultrasound of adrenals can help determine significance and whether there is unilateral or bilateral disease.

Case 2: Again UTIs and stones need ruling out as in the previous case, diabetes mellitus is also rare in GPs. We tend to run fructosamine on those with high glucose or significant glucosuria and they invariably come back as normal. Transient hyperglycaemia can be a stress response or inappropriate diet (owner feeding sugary fruits in the waiting room!). A blood glucose in the clinic will not be reliable due to stress.

Marie

RE: guinea pig endocrinology!

Mair Tyler — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 19:43:19 GMT

Attached 4 photos of 'guinea pig 1'.

RE: guinea pig endocrinology!

grumpyoldman — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 18:31:58 GMT

you could X-ray the second one urolithiasis very likely underpinning the UTI.

With no previous History the first one sounds poorly , probably worth a smear and a pcv /diff , + biochem if you can, faecal parasitology , and ultrasound the swollen abdomen ,free fluid , fatty liver etc. Some show pigs can be fed to the point of being "Mr Creosote", then if they loose weight they can develop DM ,Hepatic lipidosis etc . I am sure GPs do get HAC but not sure how common it is?.