by Pajarita » Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:08 am
VERY INTERESTING and one to keep for future reference! Thank you, Wolf!! But, diabetes insipidus (what this study was about) and diabetes mellitus (the only kind that birds were thought to have -and this is what makes this study so VERY interesting!) are two different conditions with completely different mechanisms and treatments. The insipidus is because of a lack or decrease in production of a hormone that regulates urine production (and the medicine given to the bird is the artificial version of it) while the mellitus is due to lack or decrease in insulin production (which is not really the case with birds as what they have is an excessive production of glucagon and that's why some vets think it should have a completely different name).
The super interesting part comes from the fact that because insipidus does NOT show an increase of glucose in the urine, it's HIGHLY likely that avian vets, presented with a bird that suffers from polydipsia (excessive thirst) and polyuria (excessive urination) -common symptoms to all there conditions- would not think to test for the insipidus and treat with the artificial hormone because nobody knew (before this) that birds could get the condition.