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Blood glucose

Hugo's There

Wise Old Thumper
Can anyone tell me where I can find info on blood glucose. More specifically the scale of when to suspect bloat, when to operate etc.

I can see anything in the textbook of rabbit medicine although that isn't to say it's not there. Thanks
 
Can anyone tell me where I can find info on blood glucose. More specifically the scale of when to suspect bloat, when to operate etc.

I can see anything in the textbook of rabbit medicine although that isn't to say it's not there. Thanks

Does this help?

Clinical value of blood glucose measurement in pet rabbits.
Harcourt-Brown FM1, Harcourt-Brown SF.
Author information
Abstract
Blood glucose was measured with a portable glucose meter in 907 rabbits, including 238 clinically healthy ones. Blood glucose concentrations ranged from 1.2 to 30.1 mmol/l. Diabetes mellitus was not encountered. No significant effect of sex or sedation was found. Hypoglycaemia was seen in 16 rabbits including one with an insulinoma. There was a significant relationship between blood glucose, food intake, signs of stress and severity of clinical disease. Rabbits showing signs of stress had higher blood glucose than rabbits with no signs and rabbits that were totally anorexic had higher blood glucose values than those that were eating normally or those with reduced food intake. Severe hyperglycaemia (>20 mmol/l) was associated with conditions with a poor prognosis. Rabbits with confirmed intestinal obstruction had a mean blood glucose of 24.7 mmol/l (n=18). This was significantly higher than the rabbits with confirmed gut stasis, which had a mean value of 8.5 mmol/l (n=51). The conclusion of the study was that blood glucose is a measurable parameter that can be used to assess the severity of a rabbit's condition and help to differentiate between gut stasis and intestinal obstruction in rabbits that are anorexic.
 
Thanks Jane. Second link is great. I had found the first one.

My usual vet is away on a specialist bunny course today so of course we have a sick rabbit. Her blood glucose is 18 vet is convinced she is diabetic!
 
Basically 15 is when you start monitoring closely as it's getting worrying
At 20 definitely looking serious, could indicate surgical ... more than 25 critical.

Hope you haven't got a serious case currently.
 
Thank you. I knew you were the person to ask.

She was 18 when tested earlier. She's 12 years so a bit worried x
 
Well that's a result. The vet was listening to me and went off and did her research re blood glucose. :)

No mention of diabetes this time.

Thankfully they have monitored her carefully and its now down to 8

They will x-ray in the morning now as she will need sedation and given her age they would prefer her to have more meds and food in her first.
 
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Thanks Jane. Second link is great. I had found the first one.

My usual vet is away on a specialist bunny course today so of course we have a sick rabbit. Her blood glucose is 18 vet is convinced she is diabetic!

Well I suppose you can forgive her for not being there then !

Glad to hear that Bunny is improving xx
 
I have an hour long appointment with her Monday so will be giving her the third degree on what's new ;)

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk
 
You do have to check the vet is using an UNCODED glucose monitor though.

We had this issue with an OOH vet the other day - they used one pre-coded for dogs and measure 28 for our bun (who didnt even look in discomfort was just a bit off food). It was an all out emergency because of this and choas ensued as they tried to find someone who would operate on her assumming a blockage (we were reluctant aboutthis) - but then another emergency vet (who they sent us to) measured it at 8.

Now in this situation if it was an accurate measurement going from 28 to 8 in an hour or so would indicate bunny with obstruction going into severe shock - but we discovered the other emergency vet was also using a pre-coded tester coded differently!!!!!

Our vet (admittedly the next day) used the same UNCODED glucose measurer that we have at home and got a normal 12! He explained how essential it is that the tester has not been precoded.
 
Well that's a result. The vet was listening to me and went off and did her research re blood glucose. :)

No mention of diabetes this time.

Thankfully they have monitored her carefully and its now down to 8

They will x-ray in the morning now as she will need sedation and given her age they would prefer her to have more meds and food in her first.

That's good :thumb:
 
I have an hour long appointment with her Monday so will be giving her the third degree on what's new ;)

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk

I hope she took notes in preparation for being tested on what she has learned ! Otherwise it'll be a detention and 100 lines xx
 
I'm late to comment & forgive me for nit picking a bit, but I think this is important. I believe Parsnipbun totally, but am astounded by this difference in blood glucose reading from 28 to 8 in an hour. It's impossible to be "real", so as Parsnip bun rightly says must be a "lab error" of some type.
As I understand it, never having used this advanced technology, coding refers to recalibrating the glucose monitor for different batches of test strips, because they vary slightly in their sensitivity.
The coded monitor relies on the user to recalibrate manually for different batches of test strips & I think this must be where the error occurred. Wrong number punched in.
The UNCODED monitor recalibrates itself automatically, obviating this risk of human error, but even machines can break down at times! Fortunately they usually just don't read anything = kaput

Hugo's There has hit the nail on the head, & Parsnipbun did exactly the right thing to question the result, because this is what the vet should have done - Do the symptoms & general condition fit with the test result whatever type of test it is?
It's an important lesson for vets, & doctors to learn before they start working with patients.
I can only imagine that the vet panicked thinking that he/she would have to operate on a moribund bunny (Glucose 28) & just didn't stop to think "I've got a very sick bunny but she's not breathing her last! = repeat the test from scratch"
I'm sad that we "service users" also have to be aware of this.

Sorry everyone - I can't type in eight without getting a smiley
 
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