Canine diabetes is a disease characterized by a dog’s inability to properly regulate her blood glucose. This is a hugely significant problem because high levels of blood glucose are acutely toxic for dogs. Left unchecked, lingering high glucose will cause horrible damage, even death. Unfortunately, canine blood glucose levels fluctuate naturally throughout the day, spiking with particular ferocity after the ingestion of carbohydrate-rich meals.
Fortunately, most dogs can manage glucose spikes just fine. Because their bodies produce a substance called insulin, a hormone whose job is to bring glucose levels back under control by shuttling it out of the blood and into fat cells and other places where it can be stored stably.
Canine diabetes is a disease characterized by a dog’s inability to properly regulate her blood glucose. This is a hugely significant problem because high levels of blood glucose are acutely toxic for dogs. Left unchecked, lingering high glucose will cause horrible damage, even death.
Unfortunately, canine blood glucose levels fluctuate naturally throughout the day, spiking with particular ferocity after the ingestion of carbohydrate-rich meals. Fortunately, most dogs can manage glucose spikes just fine. Because their bodies produce a substance called insulin, a hormone whose job is to bring glucose levels back under control by shuttling it out of the blood and into fat cells and other places where it can be stored stably.
Healthy dogs do this well. They are able to produce enough insulin to keep their blood glucose from ever reaching acutely toxic levels. But diabetic dogs do it poorly. So when a diabetic dog eats a carbohydrate-rich meal, her blood glucose remains dangerously high unless and until someone provides her with enough exogenous insulin to make up the shortfall. This means there are at least two reasons why diabetic dog owners might want to measure and monitor their pets’ glucose levels.
