Canine Diabetes Mellitus: NAVLE Study Guide

Canine DM on the NAVLE almost always comes down to three things: knowing your breeds, picking the right insulin, and not getting fooled by the Somogyi effect. The exam loves this topic because there are so many distinct testable facts — glucose thresholds, syringe matching, DKA electrolytes, and the intact female angle. Get these locked in and you will not lose easy points.

Pathophysiology: Why Dogs Are Different from Cats

Dogs almost exclusively get Type 1 (insulin-deficient) diabetes. Beta cells are destroyed — by immune-mediated processes, chronic pancreatitis, or idiopathic atrophy — and they do not come back. This is fundamentally different from cats, where Type 2 insulin resistance predominates and remission is actually possible. In dogs, remission is rare, insulin is lifelong, and oral hypoglycemics do nothing.

The one reversible exception worth knowing: diestrus diabetes in intact females. Progesterone drives growth hormone secretion from mammary tissue during diestrus. That GH causes insulin resistance and, eventually, beta cell exhaustion. OHE early in the course can reverse the diabetes if beta cells have not been permanently damaged yet. This is why the intact-female-with-DM question almost always has "perform OHE" as part of the correct answer.