Diabetes and your pet - 3 - Treating DiabetesPet Type Dog Issue General Health Treating Diabetes Mellitus- Treatment of diabetes in most cases involves injecting the animal with insulin on a daily basis.
- However, this is not the case in all cases, some animals can be controlled with weight loss, and dietary changes.
- Generally treatment with insulin is lifelong, especially in dogs.
- Sometimes, in cats, the Diabetes can be reversed, especially if the cat was overweight when diagnosed, and they no longer require insulin injections.
- Diabetic dogs will also need their diet and exercise levels carefully controlled.
- Some animals can be treated with 'Oral Hypoglycaemics', tablets to bring the blood sugar levels down. However, these often do not work very well and, if used, rarely cut out the need for insulin altogether.
- Entire female dogs should be spayed once their DM is stable, the fluctuations in hormones during a season will cause their DM to become uncontrolled.
Insulin - There are several different types of insulin, which are shown in the table below. your vet will chose the one most suited to your pet and your lifestyle.
Type of insulin
| Trade name | Onset of action
| Duration of action
| Injections per day
| Example Pictures
| | Soluble | Insuvet | 0-30 mins
| Short (up to 4 hours)
| Used only to stabilise diabetics, not for long term use
| | | Lente | Caninsulin
Insuvet
| 1 hour
| 6-20 hours
| Twice daily
| | Ultralente
| Hypurin | 2-8 hours
| 14-24 hours
| Once daily
|  | PZI
| Insuvet | 1-4 hours
| up to 24 hours
| Once daily
| | - Most vets will chose to start your pet on twice daily insulin, this tends to give a better overall control than injecting just once a day.
| There are several different types of insulin available, your vet will chose the one most suitable for you and your pet.
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