Diabetes can affect canines and felines in similar ways that it affects people. Diabetes in canines like the English Mastiff generally happens when there isn’t enough insulin in a dog’s body causing the body to break down fat and protein reserves as an alternative. Your vet can tell you that ideally, the energy source should come from glucose and not reserves. As a result the dog may start to lose weight and develop high levels of sugar in the bloodstream. Like humans, dogs produce insulin in the pancreas and release it into the cells in response to digested proteins turning into glucose in the bloodstream. When insulin is produced correctly it will trigger the liver and muscles in the body to turn the glucose from the blood into energy. When there is a lack of insulin or the body doesn’t know what to do with it then the glucose remains in the bloodstream. Contact your vet Olathe, KS for more details.