The Royal Veterinary College has launched the Pet Diabetes App - designed to bring diabetes management in animals into the 21st century and help ongoing research into the condition. The Royal Veterinary College has launched the Pet Diabetes App - designed to bring diabetes management in animals into the 21st century and help ongoing research into the condition. 

The free app - which was designed by Dr Stijn Niessen, a Senior Lecturer in Internal Medicine and pet diabetes expert at the RVC - allows owners to help control their pet's condition by recording the factors that indicate success or failure in diabetes management.

The veterinary care team can then fine-tune treatment according to the data recorded by the owner, thereby avoiding complications associated with low and high blood sugars, as well as the costs associated with such complications.

Stijn says he had two main objectives in designing the new app. Firstly to allow owners of diabetic pets to get actively involved in the medical management of their beloved pet. Secondly to gather strictly anonymous data about diabetic pets to enable further research and development into better treatment options.

The Diabetes Log feature of the app allows users to record and then share various essential parameters with their veterinary surgeon. They include clinical signs like weight, appetite, thirst and urination changes, as well as urine and blood sugar values (for those owners who perform home blood or urine glucose testing).

The app also features:

  • a medication reminder function
  • a reminder to change the insulin injection sites (avoiding inflammation of areas used too frequently)
  • a scientifically validated tool which calculates and monitors quality of life
  • a scientifically validated tool to score the pet’s clinical signs
  • a tool to calculate the number of calories the diabetic pet likely needs
  • a tool to calculate the exact amount of food the diabetic pet likely needs
  • space to save useful information (e.g. vet contact details, important medical history, questions for the vet, etc.)
  • visualisation of trends (using graphs), including changes in thirst, weight, fructosamine, average blood sugar values, urine ketones or sugar values, etc.
  • links to pet diabetes videos
  • an export function enabling the sharing of entered information and graphs with anyone interested, including the veterinary surgeon. 

The Diabetes App is now available for free download onto smartphones and tablets, from Android (http://bit.ly/1q3jCV5) and iPhone App stores (http://apple.co/203OoK2).

The App was developed with the support of the Rumba Foundation which helps pioneer clinical care for companion animals. You can support the work of the Rumba Foundation here: www.justgiving.com/therumbafoundation”

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