Early Symptoms of Dog Diabetes

1 Overview

I. Causes of Dog Diabetes

1. The direct cause: insufficient insulin secreted by the dog’s pancreas.

2. Liver disease, so sugar in the liver cannot be stored.

3. Stimulation of the sugar center in the medulla raises blood sugar.

4. Thyroid, adrenal, and pituitary diseases, when hyperactive, raise blood sugar.

5. Sedatives, anesthetics, thiazides, and phenytoin affect insulin release.

II. Prevention and Control of Canine Diabetes

1. Lower blood sugar and correct water, electrolyte, and acid-base balance.

2. Take the dog to the hospital promptly, take medicine on time per the vet’s instructions, and give long-term treatment.

3. Diet therapy is the basic treatment for canine diabetes, based on low-sugar diet, supplemented with low-sugar foods like meat and milk; supplement enough B vitamins; feed at fixed times, small meals often.

4. Dogs needing urgent control of high blood sugar and correction of metabolic disorder should use fast-acting insulin; stable patients should use long- or medium-acting insulin.

5. Oral hypoglycemic drugs, commonly chlorpropamide, tolbutamide, acetohexamide, glibenclamide, etc.

6. Insulin treatment: usually half an hour before morning feeding, once daily subcutaneous injection of 0.5 mcg/kg body weight of medium-acting insulin. If the dog has ketoacidosis, choose crystalline insulin or semilente insulin zinc suspension; IV dose should be 0.1 mcg/kg, intramuscular dose should be 1 mcg per over 3 kg, under 10 kg should inject 2 mcg, mainly by body weight.