Diabetes mellitus is considered to be a common endocrinopathy in dogs. Diabetes mellitus occurs when the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin. Insulin is required for the body to efficiently use sugars, fats and proteins.

Diabetes most commonly occurs in middle age to older dogs, but occasionally occurs in young animals. When diabetes occurs in young animals, it is often genetic and may occur in related animals. Diabetes mellitus occurs more commonly in female dogs.

Certain conditions predispose a dog to developing diabetes. Animals that are overweight or those with inflammation of the pancreas are predisposed to developing diabetes. Some drugs can interfere with insulin, leading to diabetes.

Untreated diabetic pets are more likely to develop infections and commonly get bladder, kidney, or skin infections. Diabetic dogs, can develop cataracts in the eyes. Fat accumulates in the liver of animals with diabetes. Less common signs of diabetes are weakness or abnormal gait due to nerve or muscle dysfunction.

The diagnosis of diabetes is made by finding a large increase in blood sugar and a large amount of sugar in the urine. Diabetes is managed long term by the injection of insulin by the owner once or twice a day. There are four general types of insulin used in dogs.

In general, dogs need insulin injections more frequently, usually twice daily, compared to large breed dogs that may only require one dose of insulin daily. The action of insulin varies in each individual and some large dogs will need 2 insulin shots daily. The insulin needs of the individual animal are determined by collecting small amounts of blood for glucose (sugar) levels.

Insulin injections are not as perfect as the insulin produced by the pancreas. Blood sugar levels will not always be normal in diabetic pets. The goal of treatment is to reduce the signs of diabetes. When diabetes is well controlled with insulin, the pet should drink, eat and urinateО normal amounts. They should have a good appetite, without becoming fat and should have normal activity.

The aim of our study is to determine the level of some indexes of clinical metabolism of dogs before and during the treatment of diabetes, which were held in Luhansk and were acted in public and private clinics of veterinary medicine.

Materials and methods. There were examined 16 dogs with clinical symptoms of diabetes between the ages of 7 to 10 years old. This group included 6 females and 10 males with the following clinical symptoms, such as thirst, polyuria, weight loss (8 animals), obesity (3 animals), scratchings (8 animals), the smell of acetone (4 animals). There were 7 individuals who were examined by means of biochemical methods. All animals were kept on a mixed diet. Blood serum contained glucose, bilirubin, total protein, thymol sample, ALT, AST, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), urea, creatinine and total cholesterol, β-lipoproteins, glycerol (TG) and chondroitin sulphate. All biochemical studies were carried out with the help of V. I. Levchenko manuals with co-authors and M. I. Kartashov with co-authors.

Treatment of animals was carried out using the following scheme: Aktrapid insulin in a dose of 0.5 to 1 IU / kg 2 times a day 10 minutes after feeding. The dose of insulin was selected individually. Sick animals were fed twice a day without water restrictions. Homemade food was used in feed, such as buckwheat and/or rice porridge, vegetables (carrot, beet), boiled beef and boneless chicken, boiled sea fish. To correct the liver functions of animals Carsil was used in a dose of 1 pill per 10 kg of a dog weight 2 times a day after feeding during 45 days. The repeated studies of the blood serum of dogs were carried out on the 45th day after the beginning of treatment.

All calculations of the information received were made on the PC with the help of the statistical program STATISTICA 7.0 (StatSoft, USA) with the determination of the normal (M), an error of a normal (m), confidential interval (CI) and the indexes of limits (Lim).

The most sensitive biochemical studies that reflect violations of biochemical processes of animals proved an existence of glucose, total cholesterol, glycerol and lipid profile indexes, which level was increased before the treatment. These studies vary using insulin and diet, that comes out in the decrease of the level (although not all animals) within the limits of the control group.

Conclusion.

1. There are significant violations of metabolism of lipids and lipoproteins for dogs with diabetes on the background of hyperglycemia, which is followed with an increase of the concentration of serous total cholesterol by all groups of lipoproteins and triacylglycerol.

2. The injection of insulin for dogs sick with diabetes during 45 days reduces the amount of total cholesterol in 1,7 times, glycerol in 2 times, cholesterol in HDL, LDL , VLDL in 1,4, 5,3 and 1,9 times relatively.

3. Hyperlipidemia of dogs with diabetes before and during the process of treatment with insulin is not followed with the significant deviations from the indexes of clinically healthy animals, such as the content of total protein, thymol sample, urea, creatinine, bilirubin, and chondroitinsulphates. There is a small increase of the activity of AST, ALT, the last index is normalized during the treatment of animals with insulin.

4. The most informative biochemical indexes in blood serum of dogs with diabetes are the content of glucose, cholesterol, glycerol, lipoprotein groups. The content of LDL cholesterol increases in the largest extent in comparison with other tests.

5. The data obtained will be used for the further study of the pathogenesis of diabetes and for the significance of diagnostic indexes of lipids and lipoproteins according to the interior diseases of animals.

Key words: dogs, diabetes mellitus, diagnosis, treatment, blood serum.