How do you know if your pet has diabetes?

[Catherine]

Thank-you for this great post. Diabetes is becoming a serious problem for people and animals. It is good to know the symptoms.
If your pet or you have these symptoms seek medical help immediately.

Guinea pigs and hamsters can also develop diabetes. Dwarf hamsters have a lot of trouble with diabetes. It is better to be careful how much fruit you feed them or other sources of sugar. 

There are studies going on where they are testing the effects of diet and exercise on diabetes and they results look good. I suspect if the results are good in humans they will be good for our pets. That means being careful about the type of food we give our pets and being careful to not over feed them. Obesity is a direct road to diabetes in most species. Walking your dog or playing with your cat will be a great help and it will do you good as well. If things have not progressed too far much can be done to keep your pet healthy even with diabetes.

The best thing you can do is not let your pet get over weight in the first place and make sure your pet has plenty of exercise throughout its life.