Hypoglycemia in dog - low blood glucose (sugar) levels in the body

Hypoglycemia
is defined as a blood glucose or blood sugar concentration of less than 70 milligrams per deciliter(mg/dl) of blood. Symptoms depend on how quickly the blood glucose concentration decreases but rarely occur until it falls below 50 mg/dl.

Symptoms reflect the rate of decrease of the blood glucose concentration, the underlying cause of hypoglycemia, and the chronicity of the problem. One common form of hypoglycemia is called juvenile hypoglycemia because it occurs in puppies less than three months of age. Juvenile hypoglycemia is common in puppies because they have not fully developed the ability to regulate their blood glucose concentration and have a high requirement for glucose. Stress, cold, malnutrition, and intestinal parasites are problems that may precipitate a bout of juvenile hypoglycemia. Toy breed dogs less than three months of age are most commonly affected.

Hypoglycemia in dogs results from a sudden drop in the concentration of blood sugar levels in the body. Dogs that go into hypoglycemia suffer from weakness, they can collapse, and sometimes go into seizures.

Hypoglycemia is medically defined as abnormally low blood glucose (sugar) levels. Our body (and our dog's body too!) uses glucose as its primary energy source. In particular, the brain needs sugar in order to function normally, and unlike many other organs, the brain has a very limited ability to store glucose. As a result, when blood glucose level becomes very low, the brain is the organ that is affected the most.

Other causes of hypoglycemia include fasting before vigorous exercise, which may be a factor in the syndrome called "hunting dog hypoglycemia"; Addison's disease, an endocrine problem caused by a lack of hormone production by the adrenal glands which can cause weakness, vomiting, diarrhea, and collapse; excessive insulin administration, as may occur in pets with diabetes mellitus; insulin-producing tumors of the pancreas, called "insulinomas" or "beta cell tumors"; severe liver disease; some other tumors that produce insulin-like factors; dogs with portosystemic shunts, which are congenital blood vessel abnormalities the cause blood from the intestines to by-pass the liver; hereditary diseases arising from abnormal storage of glucose as starch in the liver, or glycogen storage disease; and serious systemic bacterial infection, or sepsis.

What to Watch For

Loss of appetite

Extreme lethargy

Incoordination

Trembling

Muscular twitching

Weakness

Seizures

Unusual behavior

Dilated pupils

Apparent blindness

Stupor or coma