No glucose, low ketone?

Question
QUESTION: Hi - One of my dwarf hamster drinks and pees alot. This has been going on for 2 months since I brought him home from the pet store. I'm guessing he's about 5-6 months old now.
I read on some forums about diabetes if the hamster drinks/pees alot so I got the ketone/glucose strips to test. A few rounds of testing showed his glucose is normal but the ketone part may have registered faint reading. I've also been giving him fenugreek seeks everyday (abt 10 seeds) for the past 3 weeks.
Someone mentioned that fenugreek lowers glucose and at the same time ketone might shoot up a little but judging from the readings his ketone is not high. It may only be none or slight.

Am I supposed to see a change in his drinking/peeing behaviour if fenugreek is working to control potential diabetes?
Or could this be something else totally that has similar drink/pee symptoms?

ANSWER: Hi Mandy

Diabetes is quite hard to test for with hamsters because ideally you want a blood test which is obviously impossible with such a small creature.  Diabetes is quite common in dwarf hamsters, especially Campbells and can run in families.  Often, if you identify it early enough the hamster can balance their sugar levels and lead a full life, although sadly this isn't always guaranteed.

Excessive water consumption and peeing could be kidney/bladder related, such as an infection, but I think that unless there are other symptoms in his behaviour right now it might be an idea to assume this is diabetes even though the diastix didn't confirm this.

The key thing is to eliminate all sugars - this includes any dried fruit that you find in hamster mixes such as raisins, dried banana, and fresh fruit, and any hamster treats that might contain sugar or honey (a lot of them do).  The seed mix you need is a combination of sesame seed, sunflower seed, pumpkin seed and linseed.  If you buy a packet of each and mix them together and give a teaspoon of this daily.  These contain essential fatty acids and help regulate the sugar level.  Also give his other hamster mix (without dried fruit) and a small amount of fresh vegetables (avoid lettuce).  If this is diabetes and if you have caught it early enough then by doing these things you should start to notice a change in the next week or two.  If however he starts to show other symptoms (lethargic, not wanting to eat/play etc) and he is still drinking a high volume of water then it would be worth getting a vet to check him out.  Excessvie drinking can be associated with kidney problems and tumors, but you would usually expect this to occur much later in life and they don't tend to pee much but instead retain the water.

I hope this helps you and that he starts to make some improvement.

Regards
Sheila

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Sheila

Thanks so much for your reply. I will start my hamster on
those seed mix you suggested. Should the sesame be toasted,
so just feed directly from the bag?

Thanks/Mandy

Answer
Hi Mandy

You don't have to do anything special to the seeds - straight from the packet is fine.  I usually buy a small packet of each and mix them together and keep it in jar so that is easy to give daily.  

I hope you notice some improvement.

Regards
Sheila