Endocrine diseases in small mammals

Abstract

ALTHOUGH endocrine diseases of small pet mammals are frequently encountered in veterinary practice, they are only rarely reported in the literature and may, therefore, go undiagnosed by the general practitioner. Diagnosis is not easy because of the small sample size, the variability in response to established diagnostic tests for endocrine diseases in dogs and cats, and the lack of normal reference range values in these species. Treatment is often complicated by the need for high dosage frequencies due to short drug half-lives, which makes stabilisation difficult. In addition, owners find it hard to administer medication and may also be reluctant to finance further diagnostic tests. This article discusses the clinical signs associated with common endocrine diseases in small mammals and, wherever possible, describes diagnostic tests and treatment regimens.

Remission of diabetes mellitus after ovariohysterectomy in a guinea pig with ovarian cysts

“…In principle, both types of diabetes mellitus (types I and II) can be found in guinea pigs. However, according to the literature diabetes mellitus type II has most frequently been observed in this animal species [20]. Nevertheless, in the present case type II can be largely excluded because the animal was not overweight and received a diet that was low in energy and rich in raw fibre.…”

“…In guinea pigs, type II diabetes mellitus predominates and the treatment of choice is an exclusively high fibre diet [20]. Typical clinical signs include obesity, polyuria/polydipsia, and cataract formation [3].…”

“…In addition, hormone concentrations may underlie considerable fluctuations depending on the stage of the oestrus cycle with results that are not representative. The treatment of choice in cases of hormonal activity is ovariohysterectomy based on the tentative diagnosis [7] [20]. In older guinea pigs or unstable patients which carry a high anaesthetic risk alternative treatment options include ultrasound-guided percutaneous aspiration of the cystic fluid and medical treatment with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) or gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH).…”

Two unusual tumours in a ferret (Mustela putorius furo)

“…Metastasis is reported as uncommon, usually involving the regional lymph nodes, spleen or liver (Rosenthal and Quesenberry 1997). However, other authors have considered metastasis to be common (Keeble 2001). The best treatment is considered by some authors to be a pancreatic nodulectomy and a partial pancreatectomy, followed by medical management, giving a mean survival time of 688 days after diagnosis (Weiss and others 1998).…”

Veterinary care of chinchillas

“…Normal values for fructosamine i n c h i n c h i l l a s h a v e n o t b e e n v a l i d a t e d , b u t w o u l d be expected to be similar to those in rabbits (mean [sd] 344 [55] µmol/litre) (Holloway and Carmichael 2001). Treatment involves dietary control (ie, increased dietary fibre and reduced carbohydrate levels) or the administration of insulin, which can be given subcutaneously at 1 iu/kg twice daily, with incremental increases of 0•1 iu/kg, and monitored via twice daily urinalysis (Keeble 2001).…”