The role of diet in treating and possibly preventing diabetes in dogs and cats is undergoing lots of scrutiny lately. The old thinking on treating diabetes was to use insulin, decease simple carbohydrates to prevent blood glucose spikes, and eat high fiber diets to smooth out the whole glucose curve. Higher fiber diets could also help pets lose weight since obesity is often associated with the onset of diabetes, even though they might be sick and skinny at the time of diagnosis.
The latest theories on cats with diabetes is that free feeding high carbohydrate dry food to inactive indoor cats can lead to obesity, higher glucose levels after eating, and higher insulin concentration. These blood levels of glucose and insulin are believed to lead to pancreatic cell failure and ultimately diabetes. We know that weight loss to an optimum weight will help manage the diabetes, and sometimes can lead to remission of diabetes in cats. The weight loss ideally is slow and steady, ~ 1%/week, usually on a high protein/low carb diet to maintain muscle mass.
The latest studies on dogs didn’t show much difference between normal fiber and high fiber diets in regulating glucose levels on diabetic dogs. The most successful study was feeding any diet the dogs would eat consistently before in insulin, with no snacking between meals. Of course, weight loss in obese diabetic dogs is always recommended, but that is another whole can of worms about the “best diet” to lose weight.
On a high tech almost sci-fi note, I have one patient who has the human Libre Freestyle Sensor implanted under the skin of her back and the owner can track her glucose with her cell phone app! It isn’t approved for dogs and has to be replaced every 14 days, but it is a big leap in glucose monitoring technology.
To learn more about diabetes in pets https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/Diabetes-in-Pets.aspx
