Veterinary clinics have from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31, 2021, to enroll in the Diabetes Pet Care Alliance™ program, which provides veterinarians with free diabetes education and management tools to give to owners of newly diagnosed diabetic pets. Clients whose pets are diagnosed between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, are eligible to receive the free kits. Clinics can enroll in the program by visiting usa.petdiabetesmonth.com.

The opportunity to facilitate the long-term successful management of diabetes drove company partners Merck Animal Health, Purina, and Zoetis to form the Diabetes PetCare Alliance program in 2014. 

The earlier pets are diagnosed with diabetes, the greater the likelihood they can receive a positive prognosis for this chronic disease. The goal of the Diabetes PetCare Alliance program is to raise awareness of pet diabetes among owners and facilitate the screening of at least 2,000 pets during the month of November, which is Pet Diabetes Month.

Program helps clients gain confidence in diabetes management

The need to raise awareness of the importance of diabetes screening and to minimize fears about the disease’s manageability is real. It’s estimated that 1 in 300 adult dogs and 1 in 230 cats in the United States have diabetes.1,2 Yet while diabetes diagnoses are on the rise, increasing by 79.7% in dogs and 18.1% in cats since 2006,3 only two thirds of cat owners and half of dog owners are satisfied with diabetic control in their pets.4

Through the Diabetes PetCare Alliance program, veterinarians provide free kits to clients whose pets are diagnosed with diabetes to help familiarize them with what they need to do manage their pet’s condition and jump-start the process. Program kits include:

• One AlphaTRAK® 2 Blood Glucose Monitoring System from Zoetis

• One 6-pound bag of Purina® Pro Plan® Veterinary Diets DM Dietetic Management® Feline Formula for cats or Purina® Pro Plan® Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Fiber Balance® Dry Formula for dogs

• One 10 mL vial of Vetsulin® (porcine insulin zinc suspension) from Merck Animal Health

Veterinarians can enroll in or learn more about the program by visiting: usa.petdiabetesmonth.com.

References: 

1. Feline diabetes mellitus in the UK: The prevalence within an insured cat population and a questionnaire-based putative risk factor analysis. McCann TM, Simpson KE, Shaw DJ, et al. J Feline Med Surg 9:289-299, 2007.

2. Canine diabetes mellitus; can old dogs teach us new tricks? Catchpole B, Ristic JM, Fleeman LM, Davison LJ. Diabetologia 48:1948-1956, 2005.