First Prosimian Husbandry Workshop 2009 - Cleveland Metroparks ...

Session 2: Prosimian Health
(Moderator Cathy Williams, DVM Duke Lemur Center)
Topics
• Intro to session
• Exams and diagnostic testing
• Species specific disease problems
• Common health problems in captivity (dental problems, diarrhea/gastro intestinal, obesity,
diabetes, infections, kidney disease, cancer, other)
Cancer:
The better diets we provide and the better we are at husbandry, the more cancer we will get. Animals
die eventually and cancer is often an old-age disease. A study was just done examining medical
records and the types of cancer observed. They found 123 cases of cancer in 101 animals. The
digestive system was affected the most with the liver being the most affected organ. This was
followed by hematopoietic, endocrine, reproductive, urinary, skin, respiratory and nervous systems in
that order. We do not find many mammary tumors, but other reproductive organs can be affected. The
most common tumor in the liver is a hepatocellular carcinoma. Humans that experience iron overload
are more likely to develop liver tumors. They found no relationship in lemurs. Also, found no
hepatitis viruses. Age 11 to 15 is the most common age at death.
Question (Grace Fuller): Is there a relationship between light cycle and development of mammary
tumors?
Moderator (Cathy Williams): Higher estrogen levels stimulate breast cancer. Blind people have a
lower incidence of breast cancer and the more light they see the higher their risk. People with breast
cancer have lower melatonin levels. In animals, melatonin has an anti-estrogen effect. Melatonin-like
compounds may be a treatment for women with breast cancer. We do not know if lemurs housed in
environments housed in high light intensity at higher risk for developing cancer. Its better to provide a
more natural light spectrum.
Diabetes:
Type 1-juvenile diabetes, deals with an immune response, early-onset and inherited.
Type 2-used to be considered old-age onset, more closely related to diet and food intake, occurs more
in obese people.
We most likely see Type 2 diabetes in our animals and can be controlled with proper diet. If an animal
has untreated diabetes, blood sugar is very high. If they have too much insulin, blood glucose can be
very low. Average blood glucose is about 100. Lemurs are very prone to developing stress
hyperglycemia…this does not mean they are diabetic, but that they are stressed or scared. If the blood
sits too long, you may get lower values.
Question (Dawn Stone) How long does it take for increases in glucose from stress from catch-up to go
down?
Moderator (Cathy Williams): This is not known.
Case study: Female brown lemur..her glucose came back at 400 ug/dL (very high). There was also
sugar in the urine. Once blood sugars get over 300, sugar starts spilling over into urine. You can also
test serum fructosamine, which tells what glucose has been over the long term. This female was 289
and normal is 450, so she was not diabetic. Lesson learned: never believe one set of tests ever, need to
take multiple tests.
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