Dog Diabetes Treatment
Diabetes affects not only people, but also animals. While people show a willingness to change their lifestyle to help treatment, pet owners are faced with additional problems that animals, as a rule, do not understand. Treatment plans should be based on an understanding of the natural fluctuations in blood glucose, but this is very difficult to determine. Researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna have shown that commercially available systems for continuous glucose monitoring can be applied to dogs without requiring a pet clinic. The information received can provide valuable guidance to veterinarians on improving dog treatment.
Diabetes has many dire consequences that can only be prevented by maintaining a blood glucose level that is extremely close to the glucose level in a healthy body. Insulin treatments require accurate knowledge of fluctuations in blood glucose, which is difficult to achieve. Measurements are usually taken while the patients are in the clinic, but the results may differ due to differences in food intake and exercise, as well as related stress. Monitoring blood glucose levels while either animals lead a normal lifestyle will provide much more significant information than clinical measurements.
Menarini Diagnostics has developed a system for continuous monitoring of blood glucose levels in sick people. This system, known as “GlucoDay”, can measure glucose concentrations over a very wide range, making it potentially suitable for use with animals. The system was tested on ten diabetic dogs, all of which received standard insulin treatment. The system has worked well.
The results of the study were very revealing. Based on detailed records of blood glucose levels, it became clear that none of the ten dogs received the ideal treatment. Scientists were able to make recommendations to improve treatment, change the dose or type of insulin to treat animals.
Information on glucose levels allowed to improve treatment in each case. This does not mean that the veterinarians did not do their job properly, but it shows how difficult it is to determine the appropriate treatment without detailed information of this kind. Thanks to the use of continuous glucose monitoring systems, such as GlucoDay, it has become possible to significantly increase the effectiveness of diabetes treatment in dogs.
