Dog Disease - Dog Diabetes

Dogs are man’s best friends, they are human companions and give us a lot of joy and happiness, out of all the animals in the animal kingdom they are the most loyal. Also they are more like humans than me think they are, just like us they are also susceptible to diabetes. In dogs the diabetes disease is quite dangerous and can be life threatening unless caught in time and treated in the early stages. With the right care dog diabetes disease can be controlled and your pet can lead a normal life with some checks. Obesity is a common reasons for dogs to have diabetes and obese dogs are more prone to the disease. Also there are certain breeds that are known to have diabetes because of some inherited and genetic traits these breeds are
  • Poodles
  • Schnauzers
  • Keeshounds
  • Cairn Terriers
  • Dachshunds
  • Cocker Spaniels
  • Beagles

Symptoms
An early detection of diabetes is very important for your dogs health and will enable your dog to live a longer, healthier and more comfortable lifestyle. It is important for you to monitor your dog’s behavior patterns to see changes and judge if there is anything out of the ordinary with your pets. Diabetes has specific symptoms and you should be able to notice them and get your dog treated for its disease. Some of these symptoms are
  • Consuming more fluids
  • Urinating more than normal
  • Rapid weight loss
  • An increase in the dog's appetite
  • The dog being dehydrated
  • A sudden formation of the cataract
If your dog is diabetic and treatment and dietary habits are not controlled this dog disease can make your dog ketotic, essentially the body of your dog starts to use reserve fats as fuel for energy production in your dog’s body resulting in accumulation of ketone bodies in the blood, if it reaches that stage your dog may show some more symptoms these include
  • Depression
  • Vomiting
  • Weakness
  • Rapid breathing
These symptoms should be a sign of concern and a vet should be contacted at the earliest to get the health of your dog checked.

Diagnosis
The vet will then diagnose the dog by running several blood and urine tests on your pet. The vet will want to check the blood sugar levels in your dog which ideally should be between 70-150 mg/dl, if it is anything above 200 mg/dl that indicates that your dog is suffering from diabetes. The vet will also want to check your dog's urine for any glucose content which also indicates diabetes. These tests are necessary not only to diagnose diabetes in your dog but to rule out several other diseases that have the same symptoms.

Treatment
Immediate treatment is necessary for diabetes in dogs; this treatment includes a proper diet to control the sugar levels in a pet as well and administering insulin to regulate the blood sugar level of the animal. First of all low fat and low sugar meals are required so the condition does not get worse. The veterinarian will guide you to a proper diet for a diabetic dog and tell you what foods to avoid. Other than the diet for milder cases of diabetes in the dog the veterinarian will also administer a dose of medication to be given to the dog, for more severe cases 1 or 2 shots of insulin might be necessary everyday to regulate the blood sugar in your pet. It is essential that proper care is taken of a diabetic dog so it can live a trouble free life and its condition is controlled, this will keep the dog safe from other dog disease also.

Here is a list of all the Dog Diseases featured on the Dog Disease Site
Dog Addison's Disease
Dog Disease Arthritis
Dog Disease Cataract
Dog Disease Constipation
Dog Disease Depression
Dog Disease Diabetes
Dog Disease Distemper
Dog Fleas
Dog Lymphoma Disease
Dog Obesity
Dog Pancreatitis Disease
Dog Disease Rabies
Heart Disease in Dogs
Heart worm disease in dogs
Lyme Disease in Dogs