Wolves, Dogs & Diabetes

Canine diabetes is the result of inappropiate diet... 

Imagine the wolf, lurking in the shadows, ravenous and salivating, surveying the flock of plump, wooly sheep, as they munch contentedly at the grain trough. The wolf draws closer, the sheep, sensing danger, bolt away, and instead of giving chase, the wolf saunters over to the feed trough and greedily scarfs down the contents!

Ridiculous? Of course it is! Why, then, do we insist on feeding grains to dogs?

The pet food companies that have set themselves up as nutritional experts have done a great disservice to our canine friends by including copious quantities of grains to dry and canned products which they so adamantly claim is 'food'.

Diabetes, or diabetes mellitus is a disease of nutrient excess. It usually appears as a result of well-intentioned caregivers feeding inappropriate 'foods' to the point of obesity. It is the most common hormonal disorder found in dogs and, historically, it's appearance is directly related to the appearance of commercial pet foods.

The symptoms of diabetes are weight loss, drinking more water, urinating more often, and the results can be poor skin and hair coat, liver disease, vomiting, weakness in the rear legs, kidney disease, and blindness. Diabetes is a very serious illness, and should be treated as such, as the prognosis, if left untreated is not good.

Diabetes develops because the animal's body is unable to break down and use glucose properly. Sugar appears in the urine, which causes the animal to urinate more, causing him to drink more fluids. The pancreas is called upon to make the hormone known as insulin, and when a dog is fed a diet that is high in carbohydrates, the pancreas can't keep up. Carbohydrates turn to sugar in the digestive tract, and our canine friends do not have the capacity to deal with this amount of sugar.

The wolf, with it's wild prey diet, does not suffer the consequences of the grain-based diet. As long as prey animals are abundant, the wolf will maintain a healthy weight, and will not develop the symptoms, so prevalent in our pet population.