The medical condition of diabetes can be categorized into two forms. Both forms of the disease are concerned with a hormone called insulin that is produced by the beta cells of the pancreas. The primary function of insulin is to utilize the glucose content in the blood for generation of energy. |
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In type 1 diabetes, the beta cells either produce very little insulin or no insulin whatsoever. As a result, the glucose is not absorbed from the blood. In contrast to this, type 2 diabetes is characterized by a condition wherein the cells of the body develop resistance to insulin that in turn again leads to lack of utilization of the sugar in the blood. Although the cause of the two different variants of diabetes may differ but the result is the same, that is increased level of blood sugar. Dogs tend to suffer more commonly from type 2 diabetes. The normal range of blood sugar in dogs falls between 70 - 150 mg/dl (milligrams per deciliter). A value more than 200 mg/dl is designated as diabetes.
The best option of treating diabetes in dogs is injecting insulin. There is availability of three types of insulin injections for dogs, namely short acting, medium range and long range. These injections mainly differ in their duration of effectiveness. The span of effectiveness of short acting injections is 1 to 4 hours; medium range injections are worthwhile for a period of 4 to 24 hours and long range injections last the maximum for about 8 to 28 hours. Extremely low or high range of blood sugar level can pose life threatening circumstances; therefore dog owners must be very vigilant and regular with regards to the administration of insulin injections. Certain drugs may also be prescribed by the veterinarian. It is vital to also monitor the intake of the dog. One should refrain from feeding the dog with food items such as red meat, dry dog food and food containing high sugar level. Apart from all these measures, regular check ups are a must to monitor the outcome of the treatment.
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