Management of Canine Diabetes

doi:10.1016/S0195-5616(01)50003-0

Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice

Volume 31, Issue 5, September 2001, Pages 855-880

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-5616(01)50003-0 Get rights and content

The majority of diabetic dogs appear to have a form of type 1 diabetes analogous to the latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA) in humans. Evidence of acute or chronic pancreatitis occurs in about 40% of diabetic dogs. Blindness caused by cataract formation eventually occurs in the majority of diabetic dogs and is not dependent on glycemic control. Insulin is the mainstay of therapy for diabetic dogs, and a conservative approach to insulin therapy is crucial. Most diabetic dogs require twice-daily dosing with lente or NPH insulin to adequately control their clinical signs. The diet fed should primarily be palatable and nutritionally balanced. Improved glycemic control may be achieved in some dogs if the diet contains increased insoluble fiber.

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Citation Excerpt :
The underlying cause of pancreatic β cell dysfunction/destruction in dogs remains to be fully established, although exocrine pancreatic disease (Watson et al., 2010; Pápa et al., 2011) and/or immune-mediated mechanisms (Davison et al., 2008) are thought to be involved. It has been proposed that, in many ways, canine diabetes mellitus resembles latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA) in humans (Fleeman and Rand, 2001; Andersen et al., 2010). Although a degree of insulin resistance and impaired glycaemic control occurs in obese dogs (Verkest et al., 2011), this rarely progresses to overt diabetes mellitus, unless some other predisposing factor is also present, as seen in dioestrus diabetes (Wejdmark et al., 2011).
Diabetes mellitus is a common endocrinopathy in companion animals, characterised by hyperglycaemia, glycosuria and weight loss, resulting from an absolute or relative deficiency in the pancreatic hormone insulin. There are breed differences in susceptibility to diabetes mellitus in dogs, with the Samoyed breed being overrepresented, while Boxers are relatively absent in the UK population of diabetic dogs, suggesting that genetic factors play an important role in determining susceptibility to the disease. A number of genes, linked with susceptibility to diabetes mellitus in humans, are associated with an increased risk of diabetes mellitus in dogs, some of which appear to be relatively breed-specific. Diabetes mellitus in dogs has been associated with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II genes (dog leucocyte antigen; DLA), with similar haplotypes and genotypes being identified in the most susceptible breeds. A region containing a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) and several polymorphisms have been identified in the canine insulin gene, with some alleles associated with susceptibility or resistance to diabetes mellitus in a breed-specific manner. Polymorphisms in the canine CTLA4 promoter and in other immune response genes are associated with susceptibility to diabetes mellitus in a number of pedigree breeds. Genome wide association studies are currently underway that should shed further light on the genetic factors responsible for the breed profile seen in the diabetic dog population.

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