Animals often have the same diseases as humans. So diabetes mellitus in cats and dogs is very similar to the same disease in humans.
The onset of diabetes in animals is not yet fully understood. The disease can develop in animals of different ages, but it is known for sure that obesity, pancreatic diseases (in particular pancreatitis), and the use of hormonal drugs can provoke it . The disease can also appear after the animal is pregnant. In dogs, the factor of heredity is important, in cats, diabetes appears mainly in adulthood, and it has been noticed that this happens more often in neutered animals. In recent years, the number of animals with diabetes mellitus has increased significantly.
It is much more difficult to diagnose diabetes mellitus in an animal than in a person.
The owners should be alerted by such signs as constant thirst in the pet, abundant frequent urination, heavy weight loss or vice versa obesity, bad breath, poor coat condition, apathy, temporary disorientation. If some of these symptoms are present, you should see a doctor who will do special blood tests, urine tests, hormone tests, and in some cases an ultrasound scan. The diagnosis of diabetes mellitus in animals cannot be made on the basis of one-off tests. The fact is that often when visiting a doctor, the animal experiences stress, which can significantly increase the sugar level and lead to a misdiagnosis.
With diabetes in an animal, as in a person, the process of insulin secretion is disrupted. As a result, despite the fact that the animal eats well, the cells of the body do not receive enough energy, they begin to “starve”, the animal becomes lethargic, weak, it can stagger when walking, and lose consciousness.
In these cases, it is necessary to take emergency measures, but in order to act correctly, the owner is advised to quickly determine the blood sugar level.
For cats and dogs, usually the norm is blood sugar in the range of 5-6 mmol / l, for other animals there are norms, let’s just say that the most
they are low in ruminants – 2-4 mmol / l, and the highest in birds – 9 – 11 mmol / l.
It is recommended to take blood from the tips of the ears, not from the pads under the fingers,
since the vessels go deep there and during a puncture there is a more significant trauma.
At home, the level of blood sugar in the animals is determined using a conventional – blood glucose meters that are used by man.
If you have an animal in your home that needs blood sugar measurements,
you will need the most common “human blood glucose meter” and test strips for it.
GLUCOMETERS with capillary blood sampling are more suitable for animals .
When choosing this meter, a very important parameter will also be the size of the blood drop that is needed for the analysis, i.e. its volume. After all, your animal is unlikely to like the manipulation of squeezing blood, even very calm animals will not like such violence. In addition, if there is not enough blood , test strips can be ruined, which also cost money. Therefore, you need a meter that requires a minimum amount of µmol of blood to measure , for example, Kontur TC or Clover Check , ai CHECK or UAN TACH ULTRA .
Since you will have to buy test strips on a regular basis later on, choose a meter with inexpensive test strips that do not get any lower quality.
It is good to have urine glucose test strips at home, this does not replace measurements taken with a glucometer, but allows you to alternate the methods for determining sugar. At home, the blood sugar level in animals can be determined using visual urine test strips ( Uriglyuk or Glukofan ).
The urine of animals should not contain sugar , and in the blood, with proper treatment, the above norms should be determined .
In many cases, animals, like humans, need insulin shots.
They can be done both with the help of ordinary Microfine insulin syringes , and with special syringe pens that are selected for a specific insulin, for example Novopen Echo , or Optipen PRO , or Humapen Luxura . It is better that the syringe pen has a minimum division of 0.5 units, since the animal requires small doses of insulin.