giant anteater at Edinburgh Zoo is being treated for diabetes, with caretakers relying on a device more commonly used in humans to monitor her condition.
In the first reported case of its kind, anteater Nala has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Keepers trained her to receive daily insulin injections, while using a donated glucose meter to make sure she’s getting the right dose.
dr. Stephanie Mota, a veterinarian at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said Nala was diagnosed after she showed symptoms similar to those seen in people with diabetes.
dr. Mota said: “Keepers first discovered that something was wrong when Nala lost weight despite eating the same amount, or sometimes even more than usual.
“We did a full health check under general anaesthetic, did a lot of tests and found that Nala has type 1 diabetes.”
While the condition is known to affect domestic cats and dogs and tamandua – a type of anteater – in the wild, no other cases have been reported in giant anteaters.
dr. Mota continued: “Our caregivers did a great job of quickly training Nala to take an insulin shot every day, but the challenge for us was how to continuously monitor her blood glucose levels to make sure she was getting the perfect dose .
“Daily blood draw wasn’t an option, and we initially started checking levels with urine samples, but we decided to contact some companies that produced human glucose meters to try to streamline the process and find a way that was the least would be invasive for Nala.
“Dexcom, leading providers of this technology, kindly donated the monitor to our charity and we were able to use it during one of her training sessions, which means we can now monitor her blood glucose levels remotely via an app.
“Because of her beautiful personality, Nala is the ideal candidate for this technology that will help us and her amazing team of goalkeepers to control her condition in the best possible way.”