Diabetes in pets: Symptoms and care in dogs and cats

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder affects pets as well as humans. Symptoms care and other information.

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Diabetes in pets: Symptoms and care in dogs and cats

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that occurs when there is a deficiency of insulin. Insulin is the hormone produced in the pancreas and is responsible for controlling glucose levels in the blood. In a diabetic pet, there is not enough insulin being produced to stop glucose production in the liver.

Signs of diabetes are:

Excessive urination

Excessive Thirst

Weight loss

Increased appetite

Exercise intolerance

Cataracts

Recurrent infections

After diagnosis your vet may prescribe insulin for your pet and you may be required to check their glucose levels on a regular basis. If diabetes is left untreated, it could cause blindness, kidney and/or liver failure, and possibly even result in death.

Diabetes isn,t always a death sentence for your pet. You may notice that your pet is drinking large amounts of water. Let him/her drink as much as he/she wants. Water will flush the excess glucose from his/her system faster resulting in a more stable condition. Diabetes in animals is very similar to diabetes in humans. Reading up on all the latest information for both humans and pets is always advised.

When giving insulin to your pet, it's important to feed them just before the injection to help prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). This can also happen if your pet over does activity or has received too much insulin.

Signs of hypoglycemia are:

Intense hunger

Lethargy

Sleepiness

Staggering

And if left untreated, hypoglycemia can cause convulsions, coma and death. To counter hypoglycemia, offer your pet a treat. If they are unable to eat you may need to give a glucose through injection or orally. The pet doesn,t even need to be able to swallow. Glucose placed in the mouth will pass through the membranes into the bloodstream. You can give the pet corn syrup to counter hypoglycemia. There are also ready-made products available for this, and should always be kept on hand in case of an emergency.

Once your pet is under care, it's important to make sure that in the event that your pet wanders off, that others know that your pet is diabetic. Medical alert tags are a must for all pets that have special conditions that way if someone finds your pet they,ll know what to do in case of an emergency. ID tags with your name and phone number on them are good for all pets in general. The medical alert tag should have your vet's information on it, that way whoever finds your pet will be able to get immediate medical attention for your pet should there be an emergency.

With medication and care, your pet should be able to live a good life with minimal problems. Just remember that your pet my need to take things a bit easy from now on, depending on the severity of the condition.

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