Screening and diagnosis of diabetes meletus in pregnant, diestrus and pseudopregnant bitches

Abstract

Hundred bitches of different breeds and aged between 1 to 10 years presented to the Small Animal Gynaecology and Obstetrics unit of Madras Veterinary College, Chennai for pregnancy diagnosis were screened for diabetes mellitus. Of which, 53 bitch were found to be pregnant (53/100) while, the remaining 24 were in diestrus stage of the cycle (24/100) and 23 were pseudo pregnant (23/100), respectively. The mean (±SD) blood glucose level of pregnant, non-pregnant and pseudo pregnant dogs estimated by glucometer were 87.89±14.598, 82.17±08.830 and 86.65±14.987 respectively while, blood glucose level estimated by auto analyser were 84.04±22.096, 84.83±10.503 and 84.30 ±15.446, respectively. As a result, none of the dog screened for diabetes mellitus showed hyperglycaemia and all were with in normal range with no significant difference observed in the mean blood glucose level as estimated by both glucometer and auto analyser methods.