Diabetic dog..help!

[Fairynuff]

My 9 year old Border, Alice, has just been diagnosed as diabetic. She has to have 15 units of insulin daily. She is more or less the 'Alice' that she has always been but lacks energy. With the insulin, will she regain her energy? What awaits us in the future? Ive never had a diabetic dog before so dont know what to expect. M.

 

[MurphysMinder]

No experience of a diabetic dog but my Mum had a diabetic cat who had to be injected everyday, and have a fairly expensive diet . He lived for about 5 years with the diabetes and you really wouldn't have known there was anything wrong with him, it was only as he got into his mid teens he started losing weight and became very subdued and the decision was made to pts. Hope Alice is back to her old self with the insulin, hopefully someone with a diabetic dog will offer you some advice.

 

[CAYLA]

It may vary wit age/breed, my mams crazy young husky is loopey, u would never think he was diabetic, he just drinks pee's for England

One of our rescues an older cavi is diabetic and she sleeps alot, and is easily tired out, but cavs like their sleep anyway as they get older.

 

[appylass]

I've never had a diabetic dog but used to work with diabetic people! The main problem with undiagnosed/untreated diabetes (in any species) is that the body cannot use carbohydrates eaten for energy because insulin is missing. In people, a few weeks, if not days of insulin treatment and most are amazed at how their energy levels have returned to normal so hopefully it will be the same with your dog.

I hope everything works out well for you and her.

 

[KarynK]

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The main problem with undiagnosed/untreated diabetes (in any species) is that the body cannot use carbohydrates eaten for energy because insulin is missing.


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This to me is the biggest single argument for species appropriate diets, in this case raw meat and bones. Most modern dogs are fed on a large amount of cooked carbohydrates when they are not designed to cope with them, any complex carbohydrate is not a natural food for a dog so you have to ask how on earth can a carnivore be a diabetic?

The problem is that most commercial dog food even some marketed as Natural diets have complex carbohydrates added as bulk, the cheaper ones use wheat and the more expensive ones oats and rice. This is the only way to make the food affordable as protein is an expensive ingredient.

Whilst we as humans are told that roughage is good for us it is not good for a carnivore that is geared up to eat bone hooves claws and fur/feathers as roughage and its principle energy sources are fats and proteins, in fact carnivores use proteins to maintain blood glucose concentrations.

Fifty or 100 years ago it was unheard of for a dog or cat to be a diabetic, what has changed in that time? The obvious change is the widespread use of convenience pet food.

I do hope that your dog responds to treatment, but I can't help thinking that the best results would be achieved by raw feeding, but I somehow doubt that your conventional veterinary surgeon would be open to that suggestion! There are a growing number of vets mainly ones that are also homeopaths that do recommend various types of raw diet.