I live on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast (just outside of Vancouver). I learned yesterday Mo, my nine-year old Papillon/Border Collie cross, has a "mild type" of diabetes. This explains her dramatic weight loss and increased thirst. We are going into the vet's first thing this morning to get started on insulin and begin our education about canine diabetes!

I had never thought a diabetes diagnosis would be good news - but given what everyone expected (cancer) I couldn't be more relieved.

My Mo is a nine year old, usually fit and very energetic border collie/papillon cross with a happily healthy life until a few weeks ago when she lost almost half her body weight very quickly and became lethargic and lost her usually bottomless pit appetite. 
Blood/urine tests indicate diabetes - and also pancreatitis. The vet said it was a chicken/egg situation: did the pancreatitis result in shutdown of insulin? Or did diabetes cause pancreatitis? We'll never know and it doesn't matter - I am just wondering if when the pancreatitis is cleared up, will insulin production re-start? Has anyone encountered this scenario? 

She is on antibiotics and started insulin yesterday (3 i.u.'s twice daily) and a Hill's diet (i/d) until she's stabilized. We've noticed a positive difference today; she's perkier, barking at butterflies and devouring the food I can dole out to her at regulated intervals.

This seems such a lovely place! How could it be anything else with so many animal lovers!

Ginny Lovelidge