Dog diabetes - Discover its symptoms, causes and treatment
As with people, Dogs come to develop diabetes for different circumstances, being a disease that can destroy the animal's body if not treated in time.
In dog diabetes the worst are not immediate symptoms, which are usually very bad in themselves, but in the long term affects a large amount of organs until many of them stop working properly.
What is diabetes?
To stabilize blood glucose levels, the dog organism (and ours) generates a hormone called insulin, which is responsible for the pancreas.
In this way the correct levels and glucose are established, which is the one that provides energy, does not give problems, but that is different when diabetes appears.
This is a chronic disease, which is not going to be cured while the dog live, and that causes either The pancreas is not able to produce quite insulin or that the organism of our best friend does not use it as it should.
Among other problems, in the short term it causes glucose levels to rise and fall without control, being able to kill the animal both for an excess and for a defect of this hormone, since both scenarios are equally serious, perhaps the abrupt drop a little worse.
Types of diabetes
In order to further complicate things, there are not only one type of diabetes in dogs, but the veterinarian has to face two possibilities and test to know which of them our dog suffers, since the treatment is different.
Type I Diabetes
It is the most common and the one that is heavier when it comes to being, since as a general rule the animal becomes dependent on the injected insulin.
Your body is not able to produce this hormone, so your blood glucose levels shoot.
Type II diabetes
Less usual and with a simple treatment, because it is not necessary to inject our best insulin friend daily.
It is usually caused because the body does not properly use the insulin that the pancreas produces, or because it generates very little for glucose levels to be stable.
Symptoms of diabetes in your dog
The symptoms of diabetes can be confused with other diseases, or sometimes we don't even think something strange happens, but is going through a time of less activity or in which he is more hungry.
We must always be attentive to behavioral changes, since that lack of sudden energy may not obey heat, but to its blood sugar levels are very high or low.
One of the clearest symptoms is weight loss. Little by little we warn that even though he eats more, the dog weights away, which must put us on alert, in the same way as when we notice that he drinks more water and urine often.
We can think that it is normal that now urinates more, but what is not natural is that it drinks so much water, getting to pee inside the house when I had never done so, or not at least since it was a puppy.
It is also possible to note that the animal lacks energy, which stops playing or sleeps more than the account, which is due to sudden alterations in glucose levels.
Almost always these changes in the dog's attitude appear combined, so it is easier to alarm, although only one of them must already make an appointment with our trusted veterinarian right away.
Causes of diabetes in dogs
Diabetes usually have a series of causes, or at least there are some that favor the appearance, which can sometimes avoid or delay everything possible.
Genetic factors
There are races such as dogYoChe, he Schnauzer or the Teckel They are more likely to suffer from this disease, although they also have dogs from other races and even mestizos if any of their ancestors have suffered.
Age
Over the years the organism begins to function worse, as if it becomes tired, and to our misfortune that happens soon in dogs, which from the age of seven they already enter what we call the elderly.
Therefore, it is after seven years when most cases occur, which are very strange in puppies and younger dogs.
Thus, as the dog's age progresses, the possibility of having diabetes increases, although we should not scare ourselves because it is not a disease too common.
Obesity
At first we said that in some cases diabetes in dogs can be prevented and this is the situation in which we can intervene in order for diabetes not to appear.
In fact, The main cause of diabetes in pets is obesity, so if our dog is going through kilos, we must take action on the matter as soon as possible, always agree with the veterinarian.
There are specific feed that help dogs lose weight without hungry, adding more fiber so that they are satiated before and moderate exercise helps accelerate the process.
Life expectancy of a diabetic dog
The life expectancy of a dog with this disease depends a lot on when it is detected and if the proper treatment is put.
If it is detected soon, life expectancy does not have to be shortened in a significant way, so that a diabetic dog will live the same as one that does not have diabetes receiving proper treatment.
Solutions or treatments
There are several solutions that manage to control diabetes in dogs, and which must always be combined under strict veterinary monitoring that must be newspaper, since animals have to be reviewed every little time.
One of the solutions goes through the exercise. This keeps obesity away and also gets glucose to spend, because the dog's body burns when it does sports.
This exercise must be adapted to the breed, age and weight of the animal, because a young German shepherd cannot do the same sport as an old one or that a dog like the English bulldog.
It is very important to adhere to the food that the veterinarian tells us, so that it ended to give what we are eating, such as pieces of bread, fried potatoes, etc., and the family must be aware in order to do the same, especially children.
We must always keep in mind that this disease is chronic, which means that it does not cure and that our dog will accompany our life, so we can even change some habits of our own, going out for a walk next to him.
Specific food for diabetic dogs
In addition to insulin, a fundamental part of the treatment of diabetes in dogs is food.
It has to be very rich in protein, low in fat and with little starch, and carry a good amount of fiber, which makes glucose absorption slower.
It must have more L-carnitine than normal, an amino acid that stimulates the body when producing insulin.
Luckily, this has ceased to be a problem years ago and Right in the market there are several brands that offer both wet and dry food, with which we will not have to worry about offering our best friend an adequate food.
It is true that these feed that many call "veterinary diet" can be a bit more expensive than normal, but the price does not rise too much with respect to A premium feed of the best quality.
Now It can be acquired in a simple way through the Internet, and the veterinarian will also bring us if we ask for it, the best option if we have time, because we take advantage in order to make some consultation.
If we want to give him food made by us, you have to ask the veterinarian, the integral rice will do very well as a base, and also some fruits of the apple type, which usually enchants dogs for their flavor.
Specific medicines
In the case of type I diabetes, which occurs because the body does not produce insulin, there is no other remedy that Manage injections -shaped insulin, with which we will avoid the complications of the disease.
It will be the veterinarian who explains how to do it, how to click and what dose we must put, being very important that we respect the initial dose and that we learn to adjust it depending on blood glucose levels.
We will know these levels thanks to the controls that we will do at home, with a glucose meter that works by putting some blood in a reactive strip.
Here it is crucial that the meter is specific for dogs, since calibration has to be different from that of humans's devices because glucose is concentrated more on plasma in dogs.
We will have to carry out reviews from time to time in the veterinarian, to do the necessary tests in order to monitor the evolution of the disease.
We should not worry about having to click the dogs daily, since there are cases of animals that "seek" that we put the injection, because they do not take to associate that when we put it on they are better.
There are also a series of supplements in tablets, almost always from plants, which can help maintain the most stable glucose, and that will be adequate in the two types of diabetes in dogs.
You have to talk to the veterinarian, because some do use them and others will not want, although the truth is that we lose anything to try for a while and measure the results.
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