Diabetes.

The vast majority of cats diagnosed with diabetes mellitus have what is called Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes usually goes hand in hand with obesity, and a big factor behind this relationship is insulin resistance. The pancreas is still making sufficient amounts of insulin (responsible for helping cells absorb glucose from the blood stream), but the body becomes unable to respond to the hormone effectively. Insulin resistance develops because adipose tissue does more than just store energy in the form of fat. It is also an endocrine organ. In other words, fat secretes hormones that significantly affect the way in which a cat's body functions, including the way in which it responds to ...

Can you picture a future where diabetes can essentially be cured with a one-time injection? This reality may not be as far off as you might think. In fact, it looks like some dogs with type one diabetes have already been cured of their disease. First some background information: Most dogs have what is called type one diabetes as opposed to type two diabetes (the opposite is true for cats). With type one diabetes, the pancreas stops manufacturing sufficient amounts of insulin, usually because the cells that normally do so have been destroyed by an abnormal immune reaction. In type two diabetes, adequate amounts of insulin are produced by the pancreas but the body does not respond as it ...

Most veterinarians and cat owners are well aware of the risk of diabetes in overweight or obese cats as they age. New research suggests that the overweight or obese condition in cats less than a year of age also experience insulin resistance that may pose a predisposition to the development of diabetes later in life. Insulin resistance and the association of future risk of developing diabetes have been heavily researched in obese children. The link to diabetes and cardiovascular disease in this same group has also been heavily researched. Those findings have sparked the present campaigns to influence nutrition and activity behaviors in children to prevent these outcomes in later ...

Young or old, dogs continue to come up with new tricks. One of the latest -- and most life changing -- is a canine's ability to detect changes in blood-sugar levels in diabetic people. According to KLTV, this new type of service dog is especially important to young children with diabetes. This is something that Sara Wilson knows all too well. Wilson's daughter, Faith, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at only 9 months old. The disease makes Faith susceptible to organ failure if her blood-sugar levels drop too low. The idea of Faith requiring life support because of a failure to detect a drop in her levels kept Wilson up at night and left her always feeling anxious. RELATED: Blind Girl ...