Canine Diabetes Treatment

Insulin for Dogs

Your vet will prescribe insulin for canine diabetes treatment and show you how to check your dog's urine to determine the glucose level on a daily basis. Even if a diabetic pet is doing well on insulin, it is still a must to test each day.

Why? A sudden increase in blood sugar will need additional insulin. If your dog's pancreas were to start working again as a result of improved diet and specific supplements, any added insulin could be fatal.

Although infrequent, there is a condition called transient diabetes where the pancreas shuts down only temporarily.

For emergency situations, keeping Karo syrup or honey on hand can save a dog's life. If your dog becomes shaky or experiences a seizure due to an overdose of insulin, these sugar rich foods will help balance him out.

Effects of Diabetes

Let's face it, dog diabetes affects the whole body and canine diabetes treatment should help the whole body. Without one organ working properly, it puts stress on the others. Among other things there can be a loss of dog liver and heart health and the onset of kidney disease in dogs as well.

This means herbs to support the body organs are extremely important along with a very healthy diet. I know of two different schools of thought for the diabetes dog diet and I will share them both with you on that page.

After all, I know you are an intelligent person and you are the one who has to decide what you think is best for your dog.

Diabetic Dog Diet

Food is a very important part of canine diabetes treatment. A natural dog food diet including raw meat is excellent. A healthy nutritious homemade dog food diet may help your dog immensely as well.

It seems logical a canine diabetic diet along with targeted supplements could lower insulin need and perhaps for a few, cure this disease if those remedies are strengthening and rebuilding the organs which led to the onset of diabetes.

A natural dog food diet of primarily raw meat is excellent. A healthy nutritious homemade dog food diet may help your dog immensely as well.

Decreasing fat is part of the diet. Dogs need fat, but one school of thought is that the diabetic dog should have less. Why? The pancreas doesn't just provide insulin - it produces a number of enzymes that break down fat. By sticking to leaner and less meat and adding whole grains to the diet is suppose to ease the work of the pancreas.

I personally have a bit of a problem with this and here’s why. Dog diabetes is a food provoked disease. Whether it’s our bodies or our dog’s bodies, many carbohydrates are seen as sugar in a sense thus needing more insulin.

When I talk about carbohydrates here I am referring more to refined carbs. You know the mill ends they use in lower grade commercial dog foods (these may not be lower priced – you have to do your homework. I’ve seen some awful stuff at the vet’s office) or the "wheat flour" used in common dog biscuits.

Therefore, the other school of thought is raw meat with pulverized vegetables because the enzymes are intact and much easier to digest. Adding the following support will help immensely. After all, instead of giving up on the pancreas, why don’t we try to heal it a bit instead. It would be worth a shot (cute pun huh?) to me.

Here are my suggestions:

Target P14 (stock # 2810-1) Contains 14 herbs to support pancreatic function, maintaining blood sugar levels and the function of B vitamins.

CoQ10 - (stock #4109-8) To reduce oxidative stress in the cells of other organs, since diabetes affects heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas.

In this same line of reasoning, if you do your own homemade dog food via cooking, supplementing with enzymes for dogs would be a logical thing to do. I recommend:

Proactazyme Plus (stock # 1525-0) Contains full spectrum enzymes from plant sources.

and

Spirulina (stock # 681-1) To replace vitamins, minerals, phyto-nutrients and amino acids that are destroying by the heat from cooking.

Homeopathic Remedies

Dr. Marty Goldstein, in The Nature of Animal Healing notes a standard protocol of supplements that include injectible homeopathic pancreas in dilution; pancreatic enzymes; "pancreatic drops"; raw pancreas glandular and a Chinese herb called Rehmannia 16.

These supplements can only be purchased by a holistic practitioner but I mention them here to let you know there are ways to increase dog health and not just 'treat' this disease with insulin.

Exercise and Dog Diabetes

Exercise decreases insulin needs BUT erratic exercise can make the blood sugar level erratic too! Take those long walks, runs or extended games of fetch at the same time every day for dog health.

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