Diabetes in Canines

Diabetes mellitus is a common endocrine disease caused by a deficiency of insulin. Treatment is lifelong and involves insulin injections and changes to diet. The goals of treatment are to improve clinical signs (normal thirst, urinations, appetite, stable weight), prevent diabetic ketoacidosis, and slow the development of cataracts. A normal blood glucose concentration is 70 to 120mg/dl. Diabetic dogs commonly have blood sugars above 350mg/dl. With treatment, we would like the blood glucose to lie between 60 and 300mg/dl, with a daily average glucose <250mg/dl. Dogs are usually very tolerant of insulin shots.