Diabetic pets patiently sit through insulin shots, swallow bitter pills

Diabetic pets patiently sit through insulin shots, swallow bitter pills

Alex.Fernandes@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:15.11.2020

Scoobee is a “sweet” pug in more ways than one. The 10-year-old canine has had diabetes for three months and requires two shots of insulin a day. When Scoobee is given the injection after meals, he barely yelps or winces.

“He’s very cooperative. No fuss at all,” says his owner, Shivaji Park resident Seema Kulkarni. Occasionally, his blood is tested with a glucometer.

Scoobee has low-carb food, rich in fibre, with minced chicken or chunks of it thrown in with the white of an egg. A daily stroll for about 45 minutes is a must. When he was first diagnosed, his sugar had shot up abnormally high —to 650 against the normal range of 80-120.

On World Diabetes Day on Saturday, November 14, veterinarians said not only is the incidence of diabetes among pets on the rise, the disorder is catching them young as well.

Until recently, diabetes was found in aged dogs with cataract, says Dr Narendra Pardeshi, a veterinary surgeon from Pune. “But now, we diagnose little puppies and kittens too with juvenile diabetes,” says Dr Pardeshi. Weaning young pups from their mothers could trigger this condition.

“Not only are they deprived of mother’s milk but also fed high carb and deprived of the much-needed protein, which possibly precipitates diabetes in them, says Dr Pardeshi.

Dr Gautam Bhojne, assistant professor at the department of medicine, Nagpur Veterinary College, pointed out that a study done on over 600 dogs from Nagpur in 2017 showed the condition was seen in pets—not street dogs. Not just dogs and birds, now even cats are being diagnosed with the condition. Bandit, a 12-year-old cat, pet to a family in Matunga, has had it since a year. The feline is given two insulin shots daily. Her blood is tested three to four times daily with a glucometer to watch for low sugar. “Bandit is an angel when it comes to the daily pricks,” says Radhika Iyer (name changed on request) who adopted the cat as a kitten.

A “cooperative, no-fuss” Scoobee (10) is given insulin twice a