Thursday, November 10, 2011

Diabetes in Dogs - What You Need to Know

By Dirk Gruenberg


If you love your dog as much as I love mine, you are going to want to make sure that he lives a long, healthy life. Of course, there are many conditions that can ruin this dream. Diabetes is one of them. Unfortunately, diabetes does not only affect humans, but dogs, too.

Similar to humans, dogs that suffer from diabetes need special care and support as diabetes is a disease which can threaten the life of your dog. This is an important condition that warrants a great deal of attention.

In general, it can be said that smaller dogs are less susceptible to diabetes than their bigger counterparts. Likewise, younger ones are less susceptible than older ones. And the most susceptible of them all are female obese dogs.

As with humans, dogs can suffer from different kinds of diabetes. If the dog suffers from an insulin deficiency, then the diabetes is called mellitus diabetes. This indicates that the dog's body is not able to process sugar properly.

This can be quite a dangerous condition for your dog to have. In the literature, one further distinguishes between two types of mellitus diabetes: Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes. Again, this is almost identical to human diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is a condition that dogs are affected by early in their lives. In contrast, Type 2 diabetes usually occurs later in life. This is the type of diabetes that makes your dog be dependent on insulin. The older a dog gets, the more likely he is to suffer from it.

Some dogs with diabetes will require medication. If your vet prescribes medicine, it is very important to give it to your dog consistently, as prescribed.

Dogs with diabetes are at a higher risk of acquiring other diseases, especially heart diseases. Diabetes can also cause the dog's blood flow to become abnormal causing circulatory problems.

Again, make sure to get your dog the help he needs. Seeing a vet is absolutely crucial under these circumstances.




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