My dog is panting, drinking, and urinating a lot. Is it diabetes?

Hi and thanks for posting! High blood sugar can also be a sign of diabetes in dogs. I would have a urinalysis run on Tallula to see if glucose is in the urine. Glucose in the blood and urine is a diagnosis of diabetes. It is common for pancreatitis to occur in diabetic patients. I would follow your veterinarian's advise to come back for an ultrasound to check for pancreatitis and I would see if her urine can be checked for glucose. I hope this helps and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Drinking more water is more likely to be a sign of high blood sugar. Panting is not really specific to either low or high blood sugar. If you’re unable to check Fidget’s blood sugar at home and you feel something might be wrong you may want to contact your vet to see what they recommend based on her history. It is dangerous to change the insulin dose without first consulting your vet so I would recommend continuing the current dose as long as she is eating, not vomiting, and not having trouble walking or acting lethargic.

Hello, yes these sings if persistent could be indicative of certain deseases such as cushings or diabetes. Other causes of these signs may include something more benign such as a UTI. If he continues to have these signs or if you note increased urinations, lethargy and loss of appetite than he should be evaluated by his veterinarian. He may need blood work and a urinalysis to screen for these. Hope this helps and best of luck.

I am afraid Roxy is showing typical signs of diabetes: She’s started drinking more, losing weight despite eating normally and having some incontinence in the last week. Diabetes can also make a dog more prone to bacterial urinary tract infections, which is why your vet prescribed clavamox. Stress can cause higher blood glucose levels, but the elevation would be relatively small compared with a diabetic glucose elevation . A blood glucose level over 220mg/dL would definitely be higher than one caused by stress and this would be diagnostic for diabetes. However, should your dog have diabetes, it does help to keep stress levels as low as possible and to also have her teeth checked and if they are in need of a dental cleaning to have this done, as dental problems also cause stress and can compromise the success of diabetes treatment. I hope Roxy only has a UTI, but even if she has diabetes, this is relatively easily dealt with. .

Thank you for submitting your question Sophie. I recommend that she sees her veterinarian for blood and urine testing. The signs you have described are most common with diabetes. They can also be seen with kidney disease, liver problems or an adrenal gland disorder. I hope this information helps!

Hi there and thank you for posting your question. A fasting blood glucose level is often almost enough to diagnose diabetes. I will usually confirm with a urinalysis. However, many veterinarians also use a test called fructosamine to help make the diagnosis. Digs with diabetes drink a lot of water, they urinate frequently, and in the beginning they are very hungry. As they become more sick the appetite decreases and the weight loss becomes significant. I hope this helps! Take care, and thank you for using Pet Coach.

I would recommend having your dog seen as soon as possible if her symptoms are not improving tomorrow, even if this means taking her in to another vet or an emergency vet. Diseases we worry about with these symptoms include Cushings Disease (where the adrenal glands produce too much steroids), diabetes, kidney disease and liver disease. Some of these conditions can worsen quickly and become life threatening so having her examined and having bloodwork and urinalysis done as soon as possible to determine the underlying cause is the safest way to proceed.