When furry friends binge drink, it’s time for a check-up
As the weather slowly warms up, we get a few phone calls from concerned owners who notice their furry friend visiting their water bowl, or the toilet or shower, more frequently.
In my world there are other causes of excessive drinking apart from alcohol.
Diabetes is one. It is a complicated condition usually caused by the lack of the well-known hormone insulin.
Most of us would have interacted with someone who has type-1 or 2 diabetes and my patients are the same, although they almost always require insulin (type-1).
If we understand the processes involved, it can help explain the symptoms that occur and the treatment required.
Insulin is produced by the pancreas gland located in the abdomen, near the stomach. Diabetes usually occurs because there is not enough insulin being produced.
Insulin regulates how cells of the body deal with glucose. With low insulin levels, the cells of the body can’t take up glucose from the bloodstream. This leaves high blood levels of glucose. This high-blood glucose spills over into the urine, because the kidneys filter blood, and all this glucose, for various reasons, pulls excess water with it out through the kidneys.
So the main result is urinating a lot (beer will do it) and trying to compensate by drinking a lot.
We have recently seen two new diabetics, including Dora. She is a 6-year-old female terrier that came to see us when her owners noticed her emptying her whole water bowl three times a day.
A full blood and urine profile confirmed she had diabetes. It is important at this point for us to fully discuss the commitment required to manage these patients, as some may see it as a huge and ongoing task, although it isn’t a lot more than what we already would be doing for any family member.
Animals with diabetes require a special diet, exercise and twice-daily injections. I guess the injections are the scary bit, but the needles are ultra-fine and it is our perception rather than that of our furry friends that makes it so. Diet and exercise, as with people, are a large factor in the control and prevention of diabetes.
The diet is all about trying to absorb even amounts of nutrients throughout the day, rather than spikes. Also it must avoid sugar-based foods that play havoc with fluctuating glucose levels. Try a high-energy drink and note down how you feel an hour or two later – all that sudden sugar intake created a sugar high and then a huge trough a short time later, which is why sugar initially can make you feel better, but later make you tired.
Our diabetic furry friends can lead normal and long lives with a little extra care and close observation.
Dora was started on twice-daily injections of insulin, which almost all the cats or dogs we see don’t seem to mind as the needles are so fine and the volume of the dose is so small. Within days she was noticeably happier and her thirst had lessened.
It usually takes a few weeks to get the insulin dose at the right level and regular monitoring of the blood-glucose level is required in the early stages of treatment. Oral tablets don’t seem to work that well in dogs or cats, but can sometimes be helpful, and we have several cats on these at present.
Monitoring of glucose levels at home is difficult because your friend just won’t urinate in a little pot or on a test strip, funnily enough. And they definitely don’t appreciate one of those stabbing little machines for your thumb. So monthly visits to us are necessary in the early stages and close observation of their thirst is a good indicator of how they are going.
Poor old Dora is going to miss all her treats as well, because she is now on a special high-fibre diet that helps level out glucose fluctuations throughout the day. Even with all these measures, Dora may at times have fluctuations in her blood-glucose level and we have warned her owners to watch for signs of weakness or disorientation that would indicate low glucose levels, which would need immediate treatment at the hospital or oral glucose in an emergency at home.
Diabetic cats can be a whole different scenario, but again, they can often be controlled and live relatively normal, long lives with special care.
Part of the problem with furry patients is making sure they eat regularly, and they can’t tell you how they feel. So, any excessive drinking needs to be checked by us.
Malcolm Anderson is a Manawatu¯ vet.