Email address 2:

Email address 3:

Nutrition

Diet is extremely important in the successful management of diabetes mellitus. The diet must provide all the nutritional needs of the animal and should minimize post-prandial fluctuations in blood glucose concentrations.

Diets for diabetic dogs and cats

A diet and feeding routine should be chosen that suit both the owner and their diabetic pet. Clean drinking water should be available at all times. A reduction in excessive water consumption indicates successful management of the diabetes mellitus.

Importance of ideal body weight

In dogs and cats that are underweight or overweight it is desirable that the ideal body weight is reached by gradual weight gain or loss.

In underweight animals very calorie dense diets should be avoided, especially those that are high in soluble carbohydrates.

Obesity contributes to insulin resistance. Overweight dogs and cats should lose weight in a gradual controlled fashion. Weight loss in obese animals decreases the insulin requirement.

More information

See Feeding Diabetic Dogs and Feeding Diabetic Cats for species specific information.