Blood glucose

[a reader of books]

Often when bunnies on here don't want to eat, I read about vets checking their blood glucose, and I have to say, I'd never heard of that before joining here? I don't think vets do that here in my country; I've never read about it any vet doing it, and my own vets don't. At my vets' when a blockage is suspected they do an x-ray. Would it be better to check blood glucose levels instead? I don't know if they can even do it. How does it work? Is it something that shows the results immediately, or is it only possible for vets who do their own blood work processing? (My vets need to send rabbits' blood to a lab, since they can't do it themselves, though I think they do cat and dog blood work themselves if I understood right.)

 

[Graciee]

Often when bunnies on here don't want to eat, I read about vets checking their blood glucose, and I have to say, I'd never heard of that before joining here? I don't think vets do that here in my country; I've never read about it any vet doing it, and my own vets don't. At my vets' when a blockage is suspected they do an x-ray. Would it be better to check blood glucose levels instead? I don't know if they can even do it. How does it work? Is it something that shows the results immediately, or is it only possible for vets who do their own blood work processing? (My vets need to send rabbits' blood to a lab, since they can't do it themselves, though I think they do cat and dog blood work themselves if I understood right.)

Wait for Jane for the proper answer [emoji38] but..

They ***** a small vein in the ear with a teeny needle to get a teeny drop of blood and wipe it on a thing which gets put into a machine and gives you an instant reading. It's very quick and I don't think very painful tbh.

I have mixed feelings about it. So the reading can be raised from just stress, but normally not to the same amount as if there's a blockage etc, so it's a good guide sometimes I think. It's not a full picture though. One of my vets does blood glucose test and xray and physical examination immediately, my other vet just does a physical examination and nothing else, sometimes does an xray..

I had a female bun who ended up dying from a blockage when they went to do surgery, but her blood glucose level was like 21 which is really high.


When my buns normally have stasis the blood glucose level gets higher and then goes down when they start passing stuff and feeling better, it's sometimes a good indication of how they're doing or progressing through their stasis episode.

 

[InspectorMorse]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22659922/

https://veterinary-practice.com/article/working-together-on-gut-stasis

 

[a reader of books]

Wait for Jane for the proper answer [emoji38] but..

They ***** a small vein in the ear with a teeny needle to get a teeny drop of blood and wipe it on a thing which gets put into a machine and gives you an instant reading. It's very quick and I don't think very painful tbh.

I have mixed feelings about it. So the reading can be raised from just stress, but normally not to the same amount as if there's a blockage etc, so it's a good guide sometimes I think. It's not a full picture though. One of my vets does blood glucose test and xray and physical examination immediately, my other vet just does a physical examination and nothing else, sometimes does an xray..

I had a female bun who ended up dying from a blockage when they went to do surgery, but her blood glucose level was like 21 which is really high.


When my buns normally have stasis the blood glucose level gets higher and then goes down when they start passing stuff and feeling better, it's sometimes a good indication of how they're doing or progressing through their stasis episode.

Ooh, I see. Thank you for explaining. I have a better idea of what it is and how it works now. I wonder why they don't do it here, when it's such a simple thing. Even with it not giving a full picture, it sounds like it's extra information that's helpful to know? Especially when you say it can sometimes be a good indication of how they're progressing through their stasis episode.

 

[a reader of books]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22659922/

https://veterinary-practice.com/article/working-together-on-gut-stasis

Ah, thank you for sharing those, IM. I had found the second article myself, but I couldn't find anything about how exactly it's done.

 

[joey&boo]

I'd have to dig out my FHB notes but generally an anorexic bunny will have a low score, a stressed bunny an elevated score & the really high scores are when you (or rather your vet) need to think about blockage surgery. I'd say a really good diagnostic tool but as with all things medical you have to look at how bunny presents & any other cues. I'd say whereas not all vets do it all vets will have the capacity to do it. Its a really simple & cheap test - the only bad bit is you have to draw blood. It might be worth gathering your findings & see what your vets think, they might be open minded to using them

 

[InspectorMorse]

Figures from Frances Harcourt Brown

Blood glucose in mmol/l

4-8 normal

8-14 possible gut stasis, may be stress induced

15 watch and repeat in 1 hour

15+ - 20 Needs treatment

20+ probable surgical case

Blood glucose readings are not a stand alone diagnostic tool, abdominal palpation and auscultation and abdominal Xrays are also necessary.

 

[KCG]

I'm really surprised that blood sugar is not checked there. The veterinarian suggested an annual check-up for my bunny. Cookie's blood values ​​were checked, including sugar. They got very little blood from the Cookie's ear or hind leg. I don't think he hurts so much. Because i followed him body language. Cookie's blood results were ready after 30 minutes. It is a very easy and fast process. :roll:

 

[joey&boo]

I'm really surprised that blood sugar is not checked there. The veterinarian suggested an annual check-up for my bunny. Cookie's blood values ​​were checked, including sugar. They got very little blood from the Cookie's ear or hind leg. I don't think he hurts so much. Because i followed him body language. Cookie's blood results were ready after 30 minutes. It is a very easy and fast process. :roll:

I think blood glucose is checked when you get a blood profile on your rabbit. What all vets don't do is take blood glucose to get a better picture of why a bunny is in stasis. Its useful in these circumstances as syringe feeding an anorexic is the usual way forward but is risky if the bunny is in stasis / not eating as s/he has intestinal blockage.

 

[a reader of books]

I'd have to dig out my FHB notes but generally an anorexic bunny will have a low score, a stressed bunny an elevated score & the really high scores are when you (or rather your vet) need to think about blockage surgery. I'd say a really good diagnostic tool but as with all things medical you have to look at how bunny presents & any other cues. I'd say whereas not all vets do it all vets will have the capacity to do it. Its a really simple & cheap test - the only bad bit is you have to draw blood. It might be worth gathering your findings & see what your vets think, they might be open minded to using them

That does sound useful, especially since it's really simple and cheap to check. I'll see if I can bring it up with my vets sometime.

Figures from Frances Harcourt Brown

Blood glucose in mmol/l

4-8 normal

8-14 possible gut stasis, may be stress induced

15 watch and repeat in 1 hour

15+ - 20 Needs treatment

20+ probable surgical case

Blood glucose readings are not a stand alone diagnostic tool, abdominal palpation and auscultation and abdominal Xrays are also necessary.

Ah, that makes sense that it has to be used in combination with other diagnostics. It sounds like it's an additional test to the other, more standard stuff, then, rather than a replacement.

I'm really surprised that blood sugar is not checked there. The veterinarian suggested an annual check-up for my bunny. Cookie's blood values ​​were checked, including sugar. They got very little blood from the Cookie's ear or hind leg. I don't think he hurts so much. Because i followed him body language. Cookie's blood results were ready after 30 minutes. It is a very easy and fast process. :roll:

J&B is right; they do check it as part of a complete blood profile here, but they don't check blood glucose on its own when a bunny is in stasis.

 

[KCG]

I think blood glucose is checked when you get a blood profile on your rabbit. What all vets don't do is take blood glucose to get a better picture of why a bunny is in stasis. Its useful in these circumstances as syringe feeding an anorexic is the usual way forward but is risky if the bunny is in stasis / not eating as s/he has intestinal blockage.

That does sound useful, especially since it's really simple and cheap to check. I'll see if I can bring it up with my vets sometime.



Ah, that makes sense that it has to be used in combination with other diagnostics. It sounds like it's an additional test to the other, more standard stuff, then, rather than a replacement.



J&B is right; they do check it as part of a complete blood profile here, but they don't check blood glucose on its own when a bunny is in stasis.

Thank you for this information. I am learning a lot in this forum.

 

[bunny momma]

My vet did not do this until I shared research jane provided. Less blood is needed for just glucose compared to blood panel. Here we use a different unit of measure for blood glucose than in uk, yet conversion of value was simple. It is an additional tool which helps to rule out obstruction before treating with motility meds.

 

[a reader of books]

My vet did not do this until I shared research jane provided. Less blood is needed for just glucose compared to blood panel. Here we use a different unit of measure for blood glucose than in uk, yet conversion of value was simple. It is an additional tool which helps to rule out obstruction before treating with motility meds.

Hm, maybe it's worth sharing some information with my vet, too, then...