Diabetes Awareness Month “Your Dog Has Diabetes” –

These were not the words I ever thought would come…with a great amount of relief. But, I thought my dog was dying and we had spent the weekend preparing the kids for the worst. Our mid-sized dog suddenly dropped her weight nearly in half. She had been losing weight, but we thought this was a positive result from a change to a healthier diet.

However, she took a turn for the worse and we ended up at TLC, with a dog who had lost 38 pounds.

Two signs stood out in retrospect:

1. She was drinking a ton of water. (We originally thought that was the food too.)
2. She became incontinent. She has always been a good dog. She was unable to process all that water and was having accidents every other day.

If your dog is seven or eight and you are not sure you have been feeding them the best food, you should be aware of the signs of diabetes. If you have a breed that is more susceptible, you should be on the watch for signs.

You may want to look into a improving the diet of your aging pets. We have always been healthy eaters ourselves but we didn’t pay a lot of attention to the dog’s diet. And we were guilty of giving them way too many fatty table treats and have found out that many of the store treats were full of sugars.

Just like humans, diet matters to your pet’s health. If you want to improve the overall health of your pet, diet and exercise have to be addressed. Otherwise, you may be looking at our new situation. A by the clock eating schedule of low carb food, followed by an injection of insulin. Twice a day. She is doing great, and actually has looked better for a couple years. We only wish we’d seen the signs sooner.

She had grown so weak that she couldn’t stand  and was so thirsty that she just lay by her water bowl.