Insulins for the long term management of diabetes mellitus in dogs: a review.

Canine Med Genet. February 2022;9(1):1.

Robert E Shiel¹, Carmel T Mooney²

¹ School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. robert.shiel@ucd.ie.; ² School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.

Abstract

The year 2021 marked the centenary of the isolation of a therapeutic form of insulin and its successful use in dogs. This was a landmark moment that subsequently and rapidly led to the commercial manufacture of insulin for use in humans. The impact of insulin was almost miraculous as those destined to die from their diabetes mellitus returned to life. Over the past 100 years, insulin formulations have been modified to attempt to provide a predictable and prolonged duration of action while avoiding the development of hypoglycaemia. This has led to an ever-growing variety of insulin types in human medicine, many of which have subsequently been used in dogs. The purpose of this review article is to provide an overview of available insulin types and their application to the chronic management of canine diabetes mellitus.

Keywords

Diabetes mellitus; Dogs; Insulin; Pharmacology;

Article Tools:

Medline

Email to me

Comments:

Erratum In Canine Med Genet. 2022 Mar 4;9(1):3. doi: 10.1186/s40575-022-00115-8

Archives Highlights:

Limb amputation for feline appendicular bone tumors results in excellent recovery outcomes and high owner satisfaction with a low incidence of complications.
Time to return to walking without support was < 3 days in 69.7% of cats and 3 to 7 days in 16.7%. Activity level changes were reported as no change in 75.8% of cats. There were no behavioral changes in 92.3% of cats. Quality of life following amputation was recorded as excellent in 82.4% of cats. Owner satisfaction was reported as very satisfied, moderately satisfied, or satisfied in 98.5% of cats.

A public health campaign to increase awareness of the risk of dog bites in South Australia.
Over one third (36-37%) of dog owners and 25-29% of non-dog owners had been previously bitten by a dog, although most did not require medical attention. Approximately 70% of dog owners believed it was safe for strangers to approach their dog, 34-37% allowed children or other people to pat their dog without permission, and less than half separated their dog from visitors or delivery people. In contrast, few of the non-dog owners allowed their children to pat a dog without the owner's permission and only 2% allowed them to play with dogs without supervision.

Prevalence of discospondylitis and association with congenital vertebral body malformations in English and French bulldogs.
The prevalence of discospondylitis was 3.4 (1.6-6.7) times higher in French bulldogs and 4.3 (1.7-9.8) times higher in English bulldogs, compared with the overall hospital cohort. One or more vertebral malformations were present in 12 French bulldogs (92.3%), 6 English bulldogs (75.0%), and 1 "other" breed dog (1.1%). Discospondylitis was diagnosed adjacent to congenital vertebral body malformations in 12 (80%) intervertebral discs in French bulldogs and 5 (50%) intervertebral discs in English bulldogs.

Aseptic protocol breaches are common among veterinary students scrubbing, gowning, and gloving into surgery.
At least 1 aseptic protocol breach (APB) was noted in 46.3% of the 96 procedures observed. The most common mistakes noted were contact of the sterile towel onto nonsterile surfaces (17.7%), contact of the gown with nonsterile surfaces (17.7%), touching sterile objects with bare hands (12.5%), and improper scrubbing technique (17.4%).

Indications for Radiation Therapy in Veterinary Medicine
This article highlights some of the essential elements for clinical decision making in veterinary radiation oncology, with case examples to give general practitioners a better understanding of what types of cases may be appropriate for radiation therapy.