DIABETIC SQUIRREL; NEED HELP ASAP

[lee]

Has anyone here had a diabetic squirrel? It's a long story but my vet is going to try insulin this morning. We haven't been able to find any info. She's spoken with an animal endocrinologist and we'll be sending blood from the squirrel (7 month old male fox) and another one the same age for comparison that is normal (and to be released soon).
We've done blood panels and urinalysis, but he is going to die if we don't do something. It will take time to get the results back from the other Dr. because he's in Michigan and we're in Oregon. My vet is an exotics Dr. and has had ferrets that were diabetic but it's completely different and we're really scared to kill my little guy. He's 900grams and only 7 months old~
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[TubeDriver]

I believe there was a diabetic squirrel that was treated successfully with Glipizide. At some point, after a lot of weight loss, he was weaned off and did well.

[MyBushyTail]

Yes TD is correct, my squirrel Angel had type two diabetes and was treated successfully with Glipizide. After losing some weight he no longer needed the Glipizide/diabetes medicine as his diabetes was completely under control. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask me.

[lee]

Thank you for answering! It took me forever to figure out how to find the post. I would like to know as many details as possible. We are awaiting blood tests from Michigan in case there are any other things involved, but for now we started insulin shots.
How old was your squirrel? How fat? How long did it take to get him better? How often did you give it to him? I am so afraid to give too much, and I'm having to mix it with saline in order to get a small enough dose, yet we're not sure really how much of a dose to give. Erring on the low side so I won't kill him and only once a day. Just started Friday.
Sorry to ask so many questions but I am so afraid of losing him.

[MyBushyTail]

Thank you for answering! It took me forever to figure out how to find the post. I would like to know as many details as possible. We are awaiting blood tests from Michigan in case there are any other things involved, but for now we started insulin shots.
How old was your squirrel? How fat? How long did it take to get him better? How often did you give it to him? I am so afraid to give too much, and I'm having to mix it with saline in order to get a small enough dose, yet we're not sure really how much of a dose to give. Erring on the low side so I won't kill him and only once a day. Just started Friday.
Sorry to ask so many questions but I am so afraid of losing him.

No need to apologize please ask as many questions as you want. I completely understand the fear of losing your squirrel from diabetes. It is a very bad disease and I too feared it was going to kill my boy.

My Angel was 7 years old when he was first diagnosed with type two diabetes. He was a grey squirrel that gained too much weight in less than 3 months which I am sure is what led to him developing type two diabetes. Prior to that he had always been so very lean - weight ranging between 580 grams to 610 grams the most. At the time he was diagnosed with diabetes his weight was about 688 grams - which was way too much for him and at one point his weight even went up to 720 grams which again was way too much for him.

Since my squirrel had type two diabetes he was on an oral medicine not insulin shots. He was on Glipizide which is an oral diabetes medicine that helps control blood sugar levels. My vet had it compounded - a liquid form which I chose to have flavorless since it was much easier to get my Angel to take it having no flavor. For my Angel the Glipizide med was as follows - Glipizide 2.5mg/ml 30ml - Give 0.15ml by mouth once every 24 hours. There were several times before he lost weight that his diabetes was so out of control that I was giving him 2 doses a day - every 12 hours and that always helped to lower his blood glucose levels and get it back to normal. When he was first prescribed the Glipizide the recommended dose was higher at 0.27ml every 24 hours. 08-09-2014 was his first dose ever given which I only gave 0.17ml - I wanted to start out on the low side to see if there were any bad effects. 08-10-2014 dose 0.17ml. 08-11-2014 dose 0.19ml. 08-12-2014 dose 0.25ml. 08-13-2014 through 08-26-14 dose 0.27ml. On 08-28-2014 I cut back to 0.15ml as I had been afraid of hypoglycemia due to Angel's actions. The 0.15ml is the dose I stuck with as that amount seemed to be what worked best for my Angel. Of course there were times over that winter of 2014 that he would gain weight and his controlled diabetes started getting out of control so I would end up increasing the dose. I always gave the Glipizide to him at the same time every day which for Angel was first thing in the morning right after he woke up. I would just put it on a baby spoon and he would lick it right up - he used to think that it was his morning treat.

You may want to ask you vet about Glipizide just to see if it may be an option for your squirrel depending on what type diabetes your squirrel has?

I really did not change any of his diet just cut down a little on the amount of sugary foods given. With Angel weight gain was the culprit - as soon as his weight would increase the diabetes would get out of control - a weight of 640-650 grams is all it took for the diabetes to get bad. I tried to keep his weight between 580 grams and 600 grams with 620 grams being the highest. Below 620 grams worked out great - he was as diabetes free as he could be and ended up not needing any Glipizide medicine at all. He was maintaining his diabetes all on his own just by staying lean. Unfortunately I lost my Angel on January 14, 2016 but not from his diabetes from odontomas complications.

[lee]

Thank you SO much for all the info. I am going to send your letter to my vet in case it helps. Our stories are a bit different, but who knows! Mine is a fox squirrel and at 7 months old he's nearly 900grams! He just started gaining weight a couple of months ago. I thought it was cute, pudgy little guy, until it became obvious it was too much.
If you don't mind another question, how did you know he was diabetic? What tests did you have done?

I'm so sorry you lost him, you must still be very raw from it. I am truly sorry. I recently lost my 9 year old fox baby, Molly, to cancer and 5 year old grey boy Paul to aspiration (he actually aspirated some vegetable matter somehow and I thought he was sick. It didn't show on x-rays and didn't respond to meds, oxygen or nebulizer treatments. Only after a necropsy did we know what happened and it kills me that I put him through all that) and over the years many special buddies that I cry about even now. I know very well how horrible it is. I am very well aquainted with the damn odontoma problem from 2 different friends' squirrels. In fact, quite a few, although only 3 in greys.

Anyway, how and when you found out will help a lot I think.
Thanks for your help.
-lee