Can you recommend a good commercial dog food for a diabetic senior dog? Eventually though he is 12 years old, he is a high-energy dog (schnoodle).
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In general, not every pet with Diabetes needs to be placed on a diabetic diet. And this is the case because, unlike in cats, dogs have the kind of diabetes that is termed Type 1 Diabetes in people, where there is destruction of the pancreatic cells and lack of insulin. What this means is that you will never see a Diabetic dog go into remission and not require insulin daily to help manage their diabetes.
With that said the most important things to make sure you do are to:
1) Measure the appropriate amount of food to be given daily (based on the calories present in the food)
2) Maintain an appropriate weight. If Gus is overweight then perhaps placing him on a low carbohydrate Purina DM diet is best
3) Limit treat intake (because treats are high in carbs!)
4) Give your pet insulin daily! No diabetic dog can manage diabetes with food alone as explained above. You must give insulin.
Also just so you are aware, there are very few commercial diets that are designed for diabetic dogs. 1) Purina DM is about the only one that I recommend and it can be just as costly as your prescription diets (i.e. Hill's M/D, Hlil's, Hill's low fat I/D, Hill's W/D-if pet overweight). Your best bet is to feed your senior pet a senior food which is already higher in fiber and low in carbohydrates. You can go with just about any brand if you follow this guideline and I would recommend sticking with higher quality foods such as Hill's Science Diet, Evo, Royal Canin or Natural Balance, just to name a few.
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