Does your pet have diabetes?
Excessive thirst and need to urinate? Excessive appetite but still losing weight? These signs could mean that your dog or cat has diabetes.
As with humans, genetics and obesity are the most common factors associated with diabetes, but it can also occur as a result of other problems, such as kidney failure or liver disease.
Although diabetes is not curable, type 2 may be controlled with a food prescribed by your vet as well as a feeding regime prescribed by her. Veterinarians can advise the best course of action for your pet, once diagnosed. Consider having annual urinalysis screening tests to check for diabetes, rather than waiting for symptoms to occur. Plus, keep your pet at a healthy weight; it could help protect against diabetes.
For more information, visit www.petdiabetes.org or www.vetinfo.com.
Volunteering: A pet project
Maybe your lifestyle doesn't suit having a pet of your own, or perhaps someone in your family is allergic to dogs or cats. You might still be able to spend time with dogs, cats, bunnies, hamsters and other pets by volunteering at your local animal shelter.
Many animal shelters and humane societies allow you to walk a dog, groom a cat or bunny or help out with special promotional events or other activities. Training is offered to those volunteers accepted into their programs. There are usually age restrictions and you'll probably need an up-to-date tetanus shot as a precaution. It all helps keep shelter animals better cared for and socialized and lets people who can't have pets care for some for a few hours each week. To find out more, contact your local shelter or humane society.
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