New pet health report: diabetes increasing faster in dogs than in humans

[Kadie]

New pet health report: diabetes increasing faster in dogs than in humans

There are few things more depressing to me than the sight of an obese child or pet. And a first-of-its kind "State of Pet Health" study from Banfield Pet Hospital reveals that this serious (and preventable) problem, at least for pets, is only getting worse.

The new report is the largest study of pet health ever conducted, capturing and analyzing medical data from 2.2 million dogs and 450,000 cats from Banfield's 770 hospitals across the country.

The results show that diabetes, which is often closely linked with obesity, is currently increasing in dogs at a faster rate than it is in their two-legged counterparts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), diabetes has increased at a rate of 28 percent in humans since 2005. The Banfield report shows that, in canines, the disease has increased at a rate of 46 percent since 2005. Iowa, Rhode Island, Idaho, Nevada and Delaware had the greatest prevalence of diabetes in dogs in 2010. There has been a 16 percent increase in the prevalence of diabetes in cats since 2006.

Here are a few other notable findings from the pet health study:


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/pets/detail?entry_id=88293#ixzz1LR4CfHpR

[elocs]

1. Overweight people tend to have overweight kids and pets.

I don't have a dog, but my vet likes to see me bring my cat in because he says it reminds him of what a normal sized cat should look like.

[KurtNYC]

2. weird picture with that story -- cute beagle with an IV

[Raine]

3. Over 20 years ago I took in two homeless Doxies, brothers

who had diabetes whose their owner had died. It was alot of work and horribly expensive they had to have insulin shots everyday. I really loved them though and I was heartbroken when I lost each of them a year apart. I still miss them and I learned so much from them, the spirit and will to survive that they had.

[sense]

4. So many of the mass produced dog and cat foods

are filled with corn and other starches that immediately turn to sugar instead of meat. Just like with our processed foods, most of the nutrition has been removed and replaced with sugar. Not a surprise that diabetes is a problem. Our bodies aren't capable of evolving so quickly from one way of eating to a completely different way in such a small span of time. Evolution is a very, very long process.

[provis99]

5. great. A country of fat asses with fat ass pets.

If we eat ourselves into a diabetic coma, you think we'd at least be kind enough not to do the same to our pets.

[sense]

7. As people we were not the ones

making the decisions to add hfcs to everything, including pet food. It is poison for many and disrupts the normal processes in our bodies and contributes greatly to overweight. We've known for more than 200 years that overweight is not caused by simply eating too much, but by eating too many simple carbs. Our bodies have not evolved to be able to handle that and hopefully someday soon more people will believe that and quit eating all the nasty processed foods. And quit feeding it to their pets!

[undeterred]

6. Mass produced dog food is crap.

My dog is on the raw diet.

[buddysmellgood]

8. That's just great. They already could out fetch and out-nap us. Now they beat at diabetes too.

[unc70]

9. Adenovirus possible culprit. Weight gain in horses, dogs

The adenovirus that is one of the causes of weight gain in humans (and in lab animals on identical rations as controls) seems to be involved also in the increase in diabetes in humans. No surprise it is happening with other mammals.