DI Explained

So just what is Central Diabetes Insipiuds anyway?  The most common misconception is that it's like the widely known form of diabetes which requires insulin.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  DI is a rare form of diabetes.  For example, in the veterinary practice where Murphy is a patient, there are 11,000 clients and he is only the 3rd animal they have diagnosed.

DI is the inability to produce ADH (antidiuretic hormone), the hormone that controls the bodies ability to regulate retention of  water, allowing the kidneys to conserve water and concentrate urine.  Concentrating your urine is the difference between really yellow urine or really pale urine.   If you have ever drank a lot of fluids (or beer) and noticed that the more you go, the less yellow your urine is, that's because your taking in more than your body needs to retain, so it immediately passes it out of the body without concentrating it.  In other words, for a DI pet, their body doesn't know it's supposed to conserve fluids for later, it thinks it needs to keep taking it in and passing it back out.

This disease is completely different from the more common and know form of diabetes, DM or Diabetes Mellitus, which is related to insulin production and the bodies ability to produce it (type 1) or the bodies ability to use the insulin properly (type 2).  Insulin plays no factor in DI.

Symptoms can be similar in both kinds of diabetes, both can cause extreme thirst, which then translates into excessive urination.  In DI, the urine will not contain glucose (sugar).   Dehydration is a serious condition that can occur in diabetes insipidus if animals are restricted on water intake as the body continues to pull fluids out of the body even when no fluids continue to go in.  This is how Murphy managed to still urinate such an incredible amount while he was in his crate for the day, even though he had no access to water.  Death due to dehydration and loss of electrolytes can result when owners take water away from an undiagnosed DI animal.  Once an animal has been diagnosed and treatment is begun, water should never be withheld.  The dog will also need a place to urinate if he is left home for more than just a few hours.  Potty pads can be used or you might consider, as I am, about installing some form of a doggie door.

Many vets do not immediately recognize the symptoms of DI.  A dog that suddenly looses their housebreaking skills may be seen as having a bladder infection. The condition however will not resolve following an attempted course of antibiotics.  Some owners believe their dog has just developed a behavior problem.  The end result for many of those pets is surrender or euthanasia.  Vets may check for diabetes, but the sample will show no sugar.  Pet owners should consider DI if a pet, long housebroken suddenly begins to urinate in the house.

Currently, there is really only one treatment in the form of DDVAP/Desmopressin Acetate.  It comes in pill form and can run $250-$350 for 90 pills; injectable which is about $60 per 1ml ampule and a nasal spray which can run from $120-160 per 5ml.  The nasal spray is the most common treatment for a dog.  Rather than use it in the spray form, it is used as an eye drop.  This does require you to put the drug into a sterile eye dropper bottle.  See my March 10th blog for notes on this.

I hope this has provided some good information and understanding of disease.  I'll be learning for a long time to come, I am sure.