Diabetes

Diabetes seems to be becoming much more common. There is no clear understanding of why this should be so. A possibility is that the pancreas becomes damaged as a result of repeated low-grade bouts of inflammation which go unnoticed. This would correspond to Stage 2 or 3 in the Development of Disease.

Inflammation and damage to the pancreas could also be caused by dietary intolerance.
In general, the daily insulin dose should be divided into two injections. Food should be divided into as many small feeds as practical.

The diet should be high in complex carbohydrates and fibre. This helps to avoid sudden rises in blood glucose levels. Burns High Oats for the dog meets these criteria. Adding vegetables and keeping the quantity of a dog food as low as possible to help to control blood glucose levels.

A diabetic dog which is underweight should not normally have a high-fibre food but should have a highly digestible food.

Cats are rather more problematic when it comes to feeding. High fibre content reduces palatability so it can be difficult to get a cat to eat high fibre food. As with dogs, a high fibre diet would not be suitable for an underweight cat. Some authorities recommend high protein, high fat diets for diabetic cats.

John Burns Pet Health Management Programme meets these needs.

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