Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus strikes 1 in 400 cats and a similar number of dogs. Symptoms in dogs and cats are similar to those in humans. Generally, most dogs and about half of cats experience type-1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, rather than the type-2 that's now becoming common in obese humans. The condition is definitely treatable, and need not shorten the animal's life span or life quality. In cats, prompt effective treatment can even lead to diabetic remission, in which the pancreas can heal. Untreated, the condition leads to blindness in dogs, increasingly weak legs in cats, and eventually malnutrition, ketoacidosis and/or dehydration, and death.