Pet Diabetes Awareness

November is National Pet Diabetes Awareness Month

What is Pet Diabetes, and What Causes it?

What is Pet Diabetes? Diabetes mellitus is an often serious condition that affects your pet’s blood sugar, or blood glucose, levels. More specifically, it happens when your pet’s body either produces too little insulin, stops producing it all together, or has an unusual response to his body’s insulin.

Let’s say we’re talking about a dog. Keep in mind, dogs don’t use sugar (carbohydrates) as a main source of energy like people do; they don’t need nearly the same amount. When a dog eats, usually consuming more carbs than he actually needs, far more than a natural diet would provide (especially if he eats people food also), all types of sugar (carbohydrates) are broken down in the body to their simplest form- glucose. That process isn’t too different from a human’s body. Glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream, eventually traveling to the body’s cells. In order to enter those cells, the Pancreas has to release a chemical hormone called insulin.

Insulin-deficiency diabetes: A dog’s body (pancreas) isn’t producing enough insulin to control blood glucose levels. This is the most common type in dogs; they will need daily shots to replace insulin not naturally made.

Insulin-resistance diabetes: A dog’s pancreas is producing some insulin, but the problem is their body has stopped using it the way it was meant to. Their cells won’t respond to insulin, so the blood sugar isn’t absorbed and just stays in the blood. This type is more common in older, obese dogs. The problem is, for example, the pancreas is constantly overworked, trying to control high levels of blood sugar all of the time, it might simply stop producing the right amount of insulin. If that happens, blood sugar levels continue to increase unchecked, potentially reaching very dangerous levels. This condition is better known as hyperglycemia. It’s hard to believe, but dogs don’t need any carbs in their diets. They simply don’t use them like we humans do. Even though a dog will get everything he needs from a diet rich in protein fats, carbohydrates represent a main nutrient in today’s diets thanks to cheaply made pet foods.

Is Pet Diabetes Common? Though it can be a hereditary related condition, passed down from parent to offspring, the overall poor quality of today’s pet food diets help contribute to ever increasing cases of diabetes. It’s hard to believe, but over 50% of today’s pets (both cats and dogs) are considered clinically overweight or obese. Remember, the second type listed above is more common in older, obese dogs.

The Problem with Today’s Pet Foods. Dogs are carnivores, no matter what argument someone might try to make. They are meant to eat animal meat, not plants- and for more reasons than one. Sadly, some of the largest, most popular, cheapest, and least healthy dog food brands out there are plant-based. It is far cheaper to grow/harvest your own ingredients on a massive scale than raise, feed, house, and slaughter animals in a humane fashion; this has to do more with profits than any kind of nutrition.

Dogs don’t need things like corn, wheat, rice or potatoes. Sadly, enormously popular brands like Purina (for example) produce foods almost entirely composed of corn-based fillers. The pancreas is constantly working to get rid of all these sugars and starches the animal’s body doesn’t really need in the first place.

Ingredients are listed on a nutritional label in order of appearance, the first appearing in the highest quantities. Always check those ingredients! Take a look at this premium food brand, the best of the best. They don’t use a plant-based ingredient in their basic foods until the 15th down; there is so little of it there might as well be none. If other brands might claim vegetables are so healthy for our pets, why does one of the absolute best dog food brands avoid using them?

November is National Pet Diabetes Awareness Month What is Pet Diabetes, and What Causes it? What is Pet Diabetes? Diabetes mellitus is an often serious condition that affects your pet’s blood sugar, or blood glucose, levels. More specifically, it happens when your pet’s body either produces too little insulin, stops producing it all together, or…