Learn the basics about diabetes so you can feel confident making the right care decisions for your dog.
Dive deeper into the essentials of daily diabetes care and build a routine that fits your lifestyle.
Know how to spot signs of diabetes complications and what to do in an emergency.
Get practical tools and guidance to care for your diabetic dog with confidence.
Find clear answers to the most common questions about caring for a diabetic dog.
A diagnosis of diabetes in your dog can feel overwhelming, but you are not alone. With the right care, most dogs with diabetes can live long, happy, and active lives. This resource centre will guide you step by step — from understanding the condition to managing insulin, diet, exercise, and monitoring, and recognising when complications need urgent attention. Our goal is to give you clear, practical information so you can feel confident in making the best decisions to support your dog’s health and wellbeing.
Why it’s normal to feel overwhelmed at first and what we can do to help
An overview of what diabetes is and why your dog has developed it
Common signs of diabetes and what they mean for your dog’s welfare.
The basics of treatment including insulin, diet, exercise, and monitoring.
The costs, commitment, and quality of life you can expect long term.
Simple first steps towards making decisions and building a care plan.
Hear from other dog owners about how they coped with a new diabetes diagnosis and built routines that work for their dogs and their families.
Diabetic doggo since December 2023
“Giving insulin isn’t hard once you get past the fact that you’re not hurting your fur baby.”
Diabetic doggo since June 2022
“To look at Indie now, you’d never know she’s diabetic. She acts just like any other dog.”
Diabetic doggo since September 2022
“Diabetes is not a death sentence. You can still do most, if not all, of what you did before.”
Diabetic doggo since December 2024
“There are still tough days, but it warms my heart seeing her totally enjoying life.”
What diabetes care is aiming for and why understanding these goals matters.
What, when and how much to feed, plus managing water and treats.
When to give insulin, which types are used and how to inject confidently.
How to plan safe daily activity and prevent low blood sugar.
What to track, how to measure and when to check with your vet.
How to recognise an emergency and what to do next.
Learn how to keep insulin effective with proper storage and mixing.
Step-by-step guide to drawing up and giving insulin safely
Learn how to collect a small blood sample and check your dog’s glucose at home.
Simple instructions for checking and recording blood sugar levels.”
Track meals, insulin, water, and activity in one easy place.
Simple template to record and share blood glucose results.
Quick guide for recognising and treating low blood sugar.
Quick answers to the most common questions owners have about managing canine diabetes.
Very, very rarely. Most dogs have Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes which means their body can no longer make insulin. This is usually either because their own immune system is attacking the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin or because their pancreas has been permanently damaged from inflammation (pancreatitis) or other physical trauma. The primary situations where we can see success in reversing diabetes are:
Although possible, it is very rare for diabetes caused by either steroids or pancreatitis to be cured. You can expect that if your dog is diagnosed with diabetes, they will require daily insulin injections for the rest of their life.
Without insulin, diabetes will make your dog very unwell. They will lose weight, drink and urinate excessively, and become weaker over time. Untreated diabetes eventually leads to life-threatening complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), which requires emergency care. Sadly, dogs cannot survive long-term without treatment.
While you may be able to track trends (at a very basic level) with a human glucometer, accurate results are going to come from a glucose monitor specifically designed for your pet. Dogs and cats carry most of the glucose in the plasma of their blood, where humans carry roughly half of the glucose in the plasma, and half in the red blood cells. Only a meter like AlphaTrak or PetTest is calibrated to account for those significant differences.
We get busy, we multi-task, or we’re distracted—which means sometimes insulin gets left out. If temperatures aren’t too high, your insulin may still be fine:
Always confirm with the latest product insert and your veterinarian. When in doubt, replace the insulin. If you happen to put your insulin in the freezer, it cannot be used.
If it has been under an hour since you were supposed to give insulin, you may go ahead and give the full dose, if BG is over 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L). If it has been over one hour since you were supposed to give insulin, you should skip the dose. Push water and you can feed one hour early to give insulin early.
We have one hour to work with so food and insulin can be given within 11 – 13 hours. Extenuating circumstances where we pass the 13-hour mark happen, and when this is the case we can either:
Don’t beat yourself up, take a deep breath, these things happen!
Sometimes when we give insulin, we see it either squirt out of the other side of the tent, feel moisture after injecting, or we smell the insulin. Insulin has a very distinct smell; it smells like concentrated band aids. If you give your dog a fur shot DO NOT RE-INJECT! You do not know how much your dog got and a temporary high is better than hypoglycemia. Encourage water consumption and if you know exercise drops your dog’s blood glucose levels, take your pup for a walk.
P.S – Don’t beat yourself up if this happens…we all do it for one reason or another. It even happens to vets!
This happens occasionally, especially when there are multiple caregivers in the home. If your dog receives a double dose of insulin, please feed another meal right away. You should also call your vet or the ER vet to let them know what is going on. If you test blood glucose levels at home test BG and make sure you have your hypoglycemia kit on hand. If you do not test blood glucose levels, your dog should be monitored at the vet’s or at the ER.
Pro tip: Leave two empty syringes out the night before for the next day’s insulin. This way caregivers know whether insulin has been given. A white board or journal attached to the fridge where you keep your insulin works well to keep notes as well.
Our dogs are opportunists and will nab what they can when they can! When your dog gets into something that is nontoxic, encourage water consumption. Typically anything that is considered a simple carbohydrate; white bread, pizza crust, white rice, or candy will burn off quickly. Complex carbohydrates like kibble, wheat bread, whole wheat pizza crust will take longer to burn off since they need to be digested and absorbed by the small intestine.
High fat foods are a concern due to our dog’s pancreas being compromised, they are more prone to pancreatitis. Monitor for symptoms of GI upset/pancreatitis. Symptoms include hunched back (also called praying pose), vomiting, lethargy, painful abdomen, lack of appetite, diarrhea, shaking and cannot get comfortable.
Please contact your vet as these are yellow or red-light symptoms and your dog should be seen by the vet as soon as possible. If your dog has eaten something toxic, please contact your vet or ER vet immediately.
Sometimes our dogs eat too fast and vomit up their food (scarf and barf) and sometimes it’s due to other underlying medical issues. I know this sounds gross, but if they vomit and will re-eat it, let them.
Since the insulin dose is tailored to match the amount of food they normally eat, we need to be careful about giving insulin if we don’t know how much food they have consumed.
If insulin has not already been given: it’s probably safest just to skip a dose. Otherwise, you could try to feed them another meal within the hour, and if they keep that down, administer the insulin.
If insulin has already been given: If they will not re-eat the vomit or will not eat any more food, we need to watch them over the next 4 to 10 hours for signs of hypoglycaemia. We can do this either by monitoring blood glucose levels with a glucometer or watching for clinical signs of hypoglycaemia.
If your dog is vomiting, not eating, and seems dull, tired, or weak, please contact your veterinarian as this can be a sign of something else going on.
Pro tip: If your dog is a food gulper, a slow feeder bowl helps slow them down. Don’t have a slow feeder bowl? Try a muffin pan.
This can sometimes happens when:
If your dog is still eating, drinking, and acting normally, many mild cases of diarrhoea will clear up on their own within a few days. If your dog has soft stool as an ongoing problem, talk to you vet about adding more fibre into the diet to help firm up the stool. This can be done either by switching to a higher fibre dog food or adding something like psyllium husk powder into the diet -see the Nutrition Plan section for more information. ***Please note that if you do change the diet, then we will most likely need to repeat blood glucose curves to make sure the insulin dose is still appropriate.***
If your dog has other symptoms like poor appetite, dehydration (tacky feeling gums), lethargy, vomiting, hunched back, shaking, or cannot get comfortable, there is most likely something more serious going on and you should book a vet visit as soon as possible.
FYI: Too much fiber can cause diarrhea, start with small amounts!
Sometimes our dogs are just not hungry or they are picky. When this happens you can add low fat, carbohydrate free enticers to get them to eat. this could be things like the water from a can of tuna or can of chicken.
If your dog does not eat a meal or only eats a partial meal, it’s always safer to skip a dose than risk hypoglycaemia.
If your dog is normally not picky and has lack of appetite for two consecutive meals, you should contact your vet as lack of appetite is a warning sign that warrants a vet visit.
Pro tip: save the juices from the canned chicken or tuna packed in water and freeze in ice cube trays for future use!
Many thanks to Michelle Matlock from the Diabetic Dog Owners Facebook Group for sharing her fabulous FAQs and answers!
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