1. Diabetes
Diabetes can causes stress to dogs over time. Dogs with diabetes
normally undertake in polydipsia and polyuria, which is an abnormal
amount of drinking and urinating . This is stressful because the dog
cannot express normal behaviours such as socialising due to the
majority of their time being consumed by urinating and drinking.
Diabetes is stressful for dogs because they are injected with insulin
every day. This can cause pain, and then that pain can cause fear or
aggression towards the owner because they perform the injection.
That fear can cause the dog to urinate, which then provokes the
owner to punish the dog, thus, causing more stress, pain and fear for
the dog. This is shown by the dog’s body language, lowered tail,
flattened ears, whimpering and shaking. Some dogs may urinate or
show signs of aggression towards its owner or the vet such as
growling, baring teeth and biting. Added to this, is the fact that the
dog would have to change the diet, which could cause further stress
on the dog. The owner would require taking the dog to the vets to
check the blood sugar levels of the dog. However, the vets can be a
very stressful place with the amount of noise from other dogs and all
the different scents. What makes it more stressful, is that the dog
may not be able to locate the scent - if the owner of the scent is not
around at that time. Even the vet can carry a unique scent which
some dogs may fear because they work with many different
animals. It is just a stressful place to be. Another reason why
diabetes can be stressful is that a dog cannot gain weight despite
being have a large appetite, constantly vomiting what they eat. This
is stressful because they can’t keep food down even though they are
hungry and want to eat. They’d get hunger pains from not eating,
although when they eat, they vomit. This will cause them to whine,
or even become aggressive.