Diabetes

[Dog Mad]

Hiya

Does anyone know the symptoms of diabetes in dogs?

Cheers

Debbie

[Annette]

The only one I know of is an insatiable thirst which persists even when there is no other reason for it.

I guess in the more advanced stages they will become generally unwell and may even go into a coma, but if you have any suspicion that a dog has developed diabetes you should get it checked out as soon as possible because untreated it can cause lots of other problems.

[Elisa]

Like Annette said, an insatiable thirst and an increase in peeing.  If you suspect Diabetes, try and get a sample of wee and take it to the vets.  He can then do a dip test straight away to test the protein in the urine.

HTH 

[shonajoy]

Thirst, peeing lots and maybe in unusual places - or at unexpected times, regrssion in toilet training, and they can also eat a lot more and lose weight.

It's useful and saves time to take a urine sample with you to the vets and they can tst it straight away, it's a simple stick test.

[Dog Mad]

OK will try and get a sample to the vets, do you know if it has to be fresh ie taken to the vets on the same day as it is produced!

The situation is that one of my dogs (not sure which one) has been weeing during the night and the floor is awash by the time I come down. For the last couple of nights I have put one dog in the crate and there has been no mess when I have come down so I think that it is him.  Is this cruel though as if he has got diabetes should I just let him pee whenever he wants?

I'll get him to the vets on Friday and see what they say.  He does drink a lot but not sure if this was due to him being on dried food.  He does like his food but he certainly isn't losing weight.  He is 9 yrs old.

How serious is diabetes in dogs and what is the general prognosis?

Thanks

Debbie

[shonajoy]

If he has got diabetes, it can be controlled with insulin or diet maybe. Once he's being treated, he should stop peing everywhere. A sample should be as fresh as possible, but same day is fine.

If the diabetes is easily controlled the prognosis is good, depending on whether or not they get complications, but we hav a lot of dogs with it in work that are doing fine. It's imperative to get it checked as soon as possible, because unchecked diabetes can result in problems.

[*Jay*]

If you are testing the urine for diabetes, then you would need to get it tested that day as storing it could give you a false result. If he is diagnosed with diabetes mellitus then the first priority would be to get him stabilised. This usually means keeping him in the vets for a day for them to do a glucose curve - this is where they take blood samples frequently during the day to test the glucose levels and administer insulin, work out when the insulin peaks etc. You would then have to be very strict re feeding regimes, exercise etc as any change in that could mean that the insulin won't work as efficiently.  There are other problems that can occur as a result of the diabetes such as liver problems, eye problems such as cataracts etc. The main problem of course would be if you couldn't get the dog stabilised. We have quite a few diabetic patients and some have been so for a good few years and are still going strong so its not a death sentence but there will be a few animals who may not respond to insulin treatment.  There is another kind of diabetes called diabetes insipidus and this is what my old boy Brook had. The first symptoms I noticed were peeing during the night (although I'm not sure he was aware of it as it was on my bed ), insatiable thirst and then it progressed to not being able to control his bladder during the day as well as he used to. The way to diagnose that is a water deprivation test and again it involves a day trip to the vets. Treatment comes in the form of eye drops (v v expensive & wasn't practica in our case) or tablets called hydrobendroflluazide (I think!!) which were nice and cheap from the chemist. I noticed an almost immediate improvement once we started on the tablets thankfully, as he was a very clean dog and would get very upset when he finally realised he was wetting indoors  

If your dog is drinking a lot more than normal and the urine test doesn't indicate diabetes, then another option may be to do a blood test to make sure all his organs, ie liver & kidneys are still functioning okay

Good luck and hope you get to the bottom of it

[honeysmun]

Hi   Our little cocker Merlin had Diabetes,  We noticed he was drinking alot, but then  very quickly  became very
unsteady on his feet and was trembling and falling about. I whip him straight up to the vets, who did some tests and he was put straight on to Insulin. He never really stabilize completely but he coped very well and I found it was us who had a job to come to terms with it ,he would stand and wait for his daily jab and on the days he was negative and did'nt need one we would have to pinch him or else he would'nt move, and it was sreally hard when he went blind a year later I felt so much for him, but he coped so very well and never  stopped doing the things he love doing for the next 4years. I also found a site on the web for blind dogs which helped very much.
                                       Val and Honey

[Dog Mad]

Well he has been to the vets... as suspected he has diabetes

We have to go back on Monday after I have spent the weekend taking records of his pee and giving him his injections.

Poor Bailey, I just hope that we manage to get him stablised soon.

[Elisa]

Sorry to hear that    Hopefully they can treat him successfully with the medication.

Keeping everything crossed for you 

[*Jay*]

I'm sorry to hear about Bailey - will keep everything crossed that you can get him stabilised soon

[Annette]

Sorry to hear that. Good for you for getting him to the vets so quickly.