Diabetology

In animals, as in humans, the pancreas is responsible for the production of insulin. Insulin ‘opens up’ the cells so that they can absorb glucose – the basic energy component that animals produce by taking in food. A problem with the pancreas can be insulin deficiency. Too little insulin leads to diabetes. Untreated diabetes, in both humans and animals, leads to death. The disease mechanism, itself very complicated, can nevertheless be described quite simply:

Lack of sufficient insulin does not allow glucose, as the basic energy component, to enter the cells. Glucose circulates through the circulatory system causing a pathological increase in concentration and eventually ends up in the urine; it is excreted from the body instead of feeding its energy stores. As a result, the organism, forced to protect the animal’s cells from “starvation death”, activates other energy-releasing mechanisms (for example, the breakdown of fats), which, however, lead to a number of detrimental changes causing, among other things, disease symptoms such as:

• weight loss
• deteriorating coat condition
• sluggishness, apathy, lack of energy
• increased thirst and change in appetite
• frequent urination.

Diabetes management requires a diabetology consultation. This is because the course of the disease is individual. The effectiveness of the treatment, which involves administering individualised doses of insulin at times selected for the animal, requires prior diagnosis.

At the KUROSZ Clinic, we perform a full diabetes diagnosis on site (24-hour sugar curve, ionograms, fructosamine) and then select the correct insulin doses.