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Friday, May 15, 2009

Diabetes Study on Dog Owners with Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes study has been funded by Diabetes UK to research anecdotal records on the dogs' reaction to the changes of their owners' blood sugar levels. Researchers asked type 1 diabetics who are also dog owners to participate in the study. I am revisiting this because of my interest for the diabetics to get earlier help before the hypoglycemic episode sets in.

The researchers from University of London and Queen's University in Belfast were going to investigate whether the dogs could detect the change in their owners' blood sugar level. They were therefore looking for 100 people to take part in this study.

Dr. Deborah Wells of Queen's University said they knew of anecdotal records that show dogs that were able to notice a drop in their owners' blood sugar level. The next issue of Balance was going to feature Dr. Wells' research. It would be the highlight of that issue. I looked all over the internet but couldn't find it. Maybe you did? Let me know then at this page
where you can join for free to receive alert and tips. There at the bottom of the page, you'll also see a contact form.

Those who wanted to be part of this study would have to fill out a questionnaire by mail or through the internet. Their response to the questionnaire would be confidential. They did not have to submit their names nor any personal matter. Check out the website of the Queen's University Belfast.

I found the results of another study where 138 dog owners reported that their dog showed a behavioral reaction to at least one event of hypoglycemia. Those who reported their dog reaction to the same episode to 11 or more events are in the 31.9% group.

It looked like too that their dog's age, sex, length of ownership and breed did not play a role to the response. Around 36% of owners claim that their dogs reacted when their blood sugar level went low before the owners noticed that they were exhibiting signs of low blood glucose level.

How did these dogs react? Well the responses were varied. Around 49.2% licked them, 61.5% vocalized, 30.4% jumped on them, 40.6$ nuzzled them and 41.3% stared at them intently. There was smaller proportion of dogs responding by hyperventilating, trembling or running away from the owners.

What conclusion can we derive from these reactions? It can be said that the reaction to the hypoglycemic events of the type 1 diabetic owners of these dogs happen to dogs that are not trained. This is important as who knows what kind of reaction will these dogs show after they are trained? Let us see what is the result if not of this but of another diabetes study.

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