In Dogs, Diabetes Is A Lifelong Condition.
–by Anna Bannon, DVM
As a veterinarian, there are two things I see on a daily basis that I wish I could change - that pet owners can change - obesity and dental disease. Obesity and dental disease are the silent killers of millions of pets across the US. In this article, I want to focus a little on obesi- ty, and also one of the life threat- ening illnesses that often occurs secondary to obesity: diabetes. Obesity is the leading health
threat to our nation’s pet popula- tion. The Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) conducted research in 2016 con- cluding that over 50% of dogs and cats are overweight, and that obesity rates are rising annually. Not only does obesity shorten
the lifespan of your pet, but it can lead to a plethora of illnesses that are not only expensive and painful to your pet, but can be fatal, including urinary tract disease, heart failure, liver disease, asthma, painful joint disease or disc disease, diabetes and more. To determine if your pet is
they are eating per day and cut it back by at least one third. Step two is get out and move. Take your pet for a few extra walks per week, or throw the ball in the back yard for 15 minutes a day. Just get them moving and burning calories.
Now, the hard part: treats.
I know, I know, it’s hard not to feed your pet treats. My Doberman just has to have some pizza crust every- time we get pizza, and you know what? I give it to her (gasp!). But I also have her on a set amount of kibble and I weigh her regularly to make sure she is maintaining a healthy weight. You are always welcome to bring your pet into your vet’s office to get weighed. Some people are surprised to
Dr. Anna’s dog, Chai, loves the occasional pizza crust.
The classic symptoms of diabetes in dogs are excessive thirst, increased urination, and weight loss despite normal or increased food consumption. Acute-onset blindness resulting from cataracts can also be a sign.
overweight, the best thing to do is ask your veterinarian, who will be very familiar with a scoring system called the Body Condition
Score.This is something that you can learn as well. The animal Body Condition Score consists of three main fac- tors: Ribs, Waist, and Hips. Can you feel (but not see) your pet’s ribs? Does your pet have a waist- line? Can you feel the hip bones? Some breeds have slight variations on this, and sometimes it can be
difficult to judge your own pet, but most veterinarians will make a note of this during every physical exam, so if you aren’t sure, just call your vet. If your pet is overweight, then the remedy for that
is actually quite straightforward: reduce the calories they get, and increase the exercise they receive. This means that you should take note of how much food they are regularly getting. Is it 1 cup twice daily? Is it a solo cup scoop that you fill part way? Is it a bowl of food that you fill every few days? Step one is to actually figure out how much food
74 THE NEW BARKER
learn that animals can get diabetes. In fact, animals get many of the same illnesses that people get. Diabetes is a little different in ani- mals, since there’s not really a “type 1” and “type 2” diabetes, like there are in people. In animals, when they become diabetic, they all need insulin replacement (with rare
exception in some cats). This can be a difficult lifestyle change for a pet owner, and it can be expensive. When an animal is diagnosed with diabetes, the
treatment isn’t as straightforward as an injection twice a day. The difficult part is finding out how much of the injection to be given twice a day. Every animal is dif- ferent, and if you give too much, you can cause them to go into a hypoglycemic shock (which can be fatal), but if you give too little, it’s not going to work well. The body needs approximately a week to adjust
to every change in insulin dose, so one of the reasons diabetes is expensive is because every time there is a dose change, a blood glucose curve needs to be performed. This is not as simple as one pin prick to get a blood sample, this is a full 12-24 hour curve, which means we need multiple samples taken throughout the day. This is not easy to do as a pet owner (though some owners learn how to get blood samples at home), and as a vet, keeping an animal in the hospital all day to get multiple blood samples can stress them out and even alter the results of the blood sugar.
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