Caring For A Diabetic Pet

Your dogs and cats can get diabetes too; here's what to look out for and how to manage it

Learning a pet has diabetes can be a shock. Sadly, about 20 per cent of diabetic cats and dogs are euthanised within a year of diagnosis due to the impacts on the pets' health and their owners' lifestyle and finances. However, the disease can be managed. And for cats, but not dogs, effective early treatment even gives them a good chance of remission.

Diabetes in cats and dogs is fairly common though not as common as in humans. It affects about 1.5 per cent of dogs and 0.5-1 per cent of cats.

So what exactly is diabetes?

What are the warning signs? And how do you manage the disease? What is diabetes? Glucose is the body's primary energy source. Insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas, regulates levels of this blood-borne sugar, its uptake into cells and its storage in the liver and muscles.

In animals with diabetes, the body does not secrete enough insulin. The result is high glucose levels (hyperglycaemia) and associated clinical signs. Some breeds and unspayed female dogs are more at risk, as are middle-aged, older and obese animals.

Diabetes mellitus (its full scientific name) is generally classified into four main types:

1. Type 1 diabetes

This form results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic cells, because the immune system attacks them by mistake. Type 1 is common in dogs but rare in cats. Its onset in dogs, usually in middle age, is often insidious.

2. Type 2 diabetes

This form is characterised by insulin resistance and dysfunction in cells that produce insulin. It accounts for most cases in cats but is rare in dogs. The major risk factors are obesity and increasing age.

Other factors include genetics, physical inactivity and being kept indoors and the use of glucocorticoid steroids.