I found this post recently in a diabetes forum.

Topic: Juvenile diabetes

A dear friend of mine has an 8 week old that was not thriving. She ruled out heart issues early on, but recently he became seriously ill. Upon further investigation, he was diagnosed as diabetic! Never heard of a baby with diabetes. His eight siblings are all fine. They have also tested for pancreatic insufficiency. He's just plain old diabetic. Thank goodness!

A supportive member of the forum responds:

Oh good grief! So young!

Eight siblings? Sorry, I left out one important detail. It's about a dog; an 8-week-old English Springer puppy.

I'll admit, this post was originally going to have a slightly sarcastic edge to it as it was triggered by recent FDL entries of pet owners who compared their dog or cat's diabetes to human beings living with the disease.

But then I did some homework. And what I found was pretty fascinating. A parallel doggy diabetes universe existed out there. So similar to ours yet so different.

Maybe it's my own ignorance, but I had no idea dogs and cats had their blood sugars checked throughout the day and that their owners used the same meters and test strips that we use. I was clueless that pet owners rubbed syrup on their pets' gums to treat low blood sugars or that they got nervous when leaving Ginger with a dogsitter who's never injected before.

We talk about site locations that work best for us such as the abdomen or the butt. As far as testing goes, poodlelover67 says "the ear was OK, but for us, the paw was best." Others in the forum prefer the lip poke, but warn that a snapping dog can be dangerous. Ouch!

And just as we tend to criticize our endocrinologists, in this forum, the ire is directed quite venomously at veterinarians.

"We learned the hard way when bad advice from a vet caused Molly a terrible hypo," said one irritated owner of a fluffy brown terrier.

"God, if these vets only knew how we can monitor our pets better than they can," says dukesmommy52.

Do you think owners of diabetic dogs roll their eyes every time someone asks if their pup will outgrow it? I wonder. Or should I say dog with diabetes? Are they offended by the term "diabetic" as so many humans are in the D community?

And how do they even know when Rocco is feeling low? Do dogs slur their barks? Do cats mumble their meows and crash on the sofa as if hung over?

Does he give you his tail when you ask for his paw? When you ask him to roll over, does he roller skate? Does he get the giggles like he's wasted - blurting out "no habla ingles" when you ask him to "speak?"

Maybe that's when it's time to say ,

I think Sissy is low.