Dog Diabetes
One disease fairly common in the dog world is diabetes mellitus or sugar diabetes. An excess of sugar in the blood produces sugar in the urine and subsequently, the body strives to rid the system of the excess. Excess blood sugar is present because of a lack of insulin and insulin is produced by cells in the pancreas.
The earliest sign of this problem is usually great thirst followed by unthrift and some loss of pep. Eventually, there will be a loss of weight, and with prolonged elevated blood sugar extreme depression precedes coma and death.
Insulin must be injected into a dog with diabetes and the problem for the veterinarian is to determine how much insulin is needed. Given too much insulin, the dog’s blood sugar will drop too precipitously, producing convulsions, coma, and death. The veterinarian suggests a diet that must remain constant for the rest of the dog’s life and the food must be eaten at specified times. Since exercise burns up blood sugar it is very important to control and standardize it.
To determine the amount of insulin necessary, a given amount is injected, followed by a blood sugar test sometime later. If the insulin dose is excessive, sugar may have to be administered to the dog. Finally, when the correct dose is established, you, the owner, arc instructed in the simple technique of injecting your pet at regular intervals.
A dog on a given dose of insulin will have a fluctuation of blood sugar even after months of successful treatment so test kits are available for blood and urine sugar. An unsprayed female often has a great fluctuation in sugar during her heat periods. You should spay diabetic female dogs.
Sugar diabetes is caused by a shortage or complete absence of the secretion of the islets of Angoras in the pancreas. Affected dogs are unable to store sugar in the liver and become sick if they eat large quantities of carbohydrates or sugar. They need proteins and fat, with a minimum of carbohydrates. This, as you will remember, is the opposite of the diet needed by dogs with kidney disease.
Dog diabetes should be taken under proper treatment as soon as it is detected. To find out whether your dog is suffering from a chronic disease called diabetes you are recommended to find out check out a few symptoms associated with diabetes in your dog. Your dog diabetic dog would be suffering from frequent urination and thirst for drinking water. The dog would also experience excessive hunger, loss of weight, feeling lethargic and weak, loss of appetite, and vomiting tendency as well.
The treatment for dog diabetes is injecting insulin. Insulin can be available in various dosages. Short-term insulin is effective for one to four hours, medium ranges for four to twenty-four hours, and long-ranged versions are for eight to twenty-eight hours. The short ones are quite effective in the initial stages of diabetes as it helps in the regulation of the level of glucose with ketoacidosis.
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