A Guide to Understanding and Treating Diabetes in Dogs

Diabetes mellitus, commonly known by the shortened name “diabetes”, sugar diabetes or “sugar”, is one of the most common and important medical disorders in both humans and dogs. As a pet owner with a newly diagnosed dog with diabetes, it is difficult to know what you need to do. We created this article to help you know step by step what you need to do and to answer common questions that come up for new diabetic dog owners.

The 6 keys to treatment of diabetes in dogs include:

1. Change your dog’s diet
2. If your dog is overweight – help your dog lose weight
3. Give insulin every 12 hours
4. Monitor for response to treatment
5. Maintain a consistent diet, exercise, and insulin treatment plan
6. Monitor for complications of the disease

We will help you understand more about symptoms of diabetes in dogs, how and when to give insulin, and how to deal with complications.

What Is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that leads to chronic elevation of the blood glucose or sugar. Blood sugar is maintained by a group of hormones, the most important of which is insulin, which is manufactured by the pancreas, a small organ near the intestines. Insulin lowers the blood sugar after a meal, and deficiency of insulin, or an insensitivity of body cells to available insulin, leads to diabetes.

With good care, your dog can have a very good life with diabetes. We will help tell you how.

What Dogs Get Diabetes?

Diabetes mellitus usually affects middle-aged to older dogs of either sex, however it is most common in female dogs (twice as common in females as in males). The peak age seen in dogs is 7 to 9 years. Juvenile-onset diabetes may occur in dogs less than 1 year of age. Any breed can be affected but some breeds are at higher risk.

Breeds at increased risk for diabetes mellitus include the Australian Terriers, Samoyeds, Schnauzers (miniature and standard), Bichon Frise, Cairn Terriers, Keeshonds, Spitz, Fox Terriers and the Poodles (both miniature and standard).

What Causes Canine Diabetes?

The cause of diabetes has a lot to do with genetics and bad luck. There are risk factors which can potentiate diabetes such as obesity, recurring pancreatitis, Cushing’s disease (hyperadrenocorticism), and drugs such as glucocorticoids and progestogens that antagonize insulin.

What Are the Signs of Diabetes in Dogs?

Common diabetes in dogs symptoms include thirst and increased water consumption among others.

Uncontrolled elevation of glucose leads to dehydration and body chemistry disorders that can eventually cause coma and death. Left uncontrolled, diabetes can become life threatening.

Why Does My Diabetic Dog Urinate More?

When a pet is diabetic, the body tries hard to fix the problem. For example, the kidneys will try to get rid of excess glucose in the urine. To get rid of extra glucose they also end up getting rid of a lot of extra water. So, they urinate more. Because they urinate more and are getting rid of a lot of extra water, they are thirsty and drink more.

Classic signs of diabetes are drinking more and urinating more. The medical term for this is polydipsia (drinking more) and polyuria (urinating more).

What Does the Term Spilling Glucose Mean?

Some clients hear their vet say this term – their dog is “spilling glucose.” This term means that their dog has glucose in the urine. This is the body’s way of trying to get rid of excess glucose in the dog’s blood.

How Is the Diagnosis Obtained?

The first step in treating diabetes in your dog is getting a correct diagnosis. This requires a veterinary examination and appropriate tests, such as a urinalysis (to detect spilled “sugar”) and blood glucose determination. Additional tests are often needed to assess the overall medical situation. Once the diagnosis is made, however, you and your veterinarian can work together to effectively control diabetes mellitus.

What Type of Diabetes Does My Dog Have?

There are two basic forms of diabetes: type I and type II. Absolute deficiency of insulin leads to type I diabetes. This is due to an insufficient number of insulin-producing pancreas cells.

Type I diabetes, often called “juvenile-onset diabetes” in people, represents the most serious form of the disease. Effective treatment for type I diabetes requires a combination of controlled diet, regular exercise, and insulin therapy.

Dogs are most often affected by type I diabetes and rarely have type II. People and pets with type I diabetes require daily injections of insulin to maintain a regular blood-sugar level.

Adult onset or type II diabetes is the more common form of diabetes in people. This condition combines a relative lack of insulin production with a resistance of body cells to the effects of the hormone. Type II diabetes is treated with a combination of diet, weight control, and medicine that makes cells more sensitive to insulin.

This form of diabetes is observed more often in cats than in dogs. Keys to successful treatment are a high-fiber diet, weight control, and medicines designed for humans to control the glucose level.

How Do I Treat Diabetes?

The treatment of diabetes requires the administration of injectable insulin to drive sugar molecules into the body’s needy cells. Dietary changes will help.

You will need to learn how to give your dog insulin as well as how, what, and when to feed your dog.

For dogs that are extremely ill, they will require hospitalization until the diabetes can get under control.

What Should I Expect from My Vet?

Every veterinary clinic and vet are a little different in how they schedule rechecks following the diagnosis of diabetes.

One approach is as follows (and may vary with your individual veterinarian):

1. The first appointment should include information about diabetes, a demonstration of how to give insulin, and dietary recommendations.
2. A recheck should be scheduled in one week that includes a clinical examination, history of the symptoms, serum fructosamine level, and a 12-hour blood glucose curve to be performed at the hospital. Treatment should be adjusted if necessary. Some vets will discuss the advantages of home monitoring and see if they are interested in doing this at home. If you are interested in doing home monitoring, you’ll need to order the monitor and strips before your next appointment.
3. Two weeks later, another recheck is performed, providing everything is okay, which is 3 weeks from the original diagnosis. At this appointment, you may learn how to perform home monitoring techniques with your glucometer. Your vet’s office should show you how to use this machine and allow you to demonstrate how to obtain blood glucose on your dog. You should also learn to calibrate your machine.
4. Additional rechecks should be scheduled as needed which ends up being monthly for 3 months, then every 2 months for 2 visits, then every 6 months if things are going well.
5. When you are comfortable with using the glucometer at home, testing the blood glucose before your dog eats is recommended twice weekly for at least a month to help determine signs of a low blood sugar. If the blood sugar is less than 100 mg/dl – call your veterinarian to determine if they want to lower the insulin dose.
6. If you will be doing home glucose curves, they should be done prior to your monthly appointment. Results should be emailed, faxed, or dropped off prior to the appointment if possible. This will give your vet time to reevaluate and recommend any adjustments. Coordinate what schedule works best with your veterinarian.

Will My Diabetic Dog Need to be Hospitalized?

If your pet has stopped eating, has been vomiting, and is generally not doing well; chances are your vet will admit your dog into the hospital to begin treatment. This often happens when the diabetes mellitus has progressed, and the body produces ketones.

Because the body has not been able to use glucose as its energy source, instead it will begin to use its fat. When the body burns fat for energy, a by-product known as ketones are created and unfortunately, they are toxic. Ketones can be found in urine samples.

Once ketones are present the animal will continue to decline rapidly unless treatment begins. The presence of Ketones changes the diagnosis to Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Dogs, which can be complicated to treat.

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), the most severe form of Diabetes Mellitus, results in severe changes in blood chemicals including imbalances in small, simple chemicals known as electrolytes.

In-hospital therapy generally includes insulin administration with frequent dose adjustment (every few hours), intravenous (IV) fluids, administration of electrolytes (blood chemicals), treatment of secondary problems, and antibiotics. Multiple blood glucose samples are taken to determine the insulin dose and urine samples to determine the presence of ketones. The insulin given in this situation is a short acting insulin and will not be the insulin used when you go home.

The process is slightly different with every dog but will generally require two to four days of intense hospitalization.

You can learn more about diabetes symptoms in dogs here.