This is a central nervous system disorder caused by a low level sugar in the blood (hypoglycaemia). It occurs mainly in Toy breeds (Spitzes, Pekinese, Chihuahas, etc) between six and 12 weeks of age. Often, it is precipitated by stress.
The first signs are those of listlessness and depression. They are followed by muscular weakness, tremors (especially in the facial muscles), and later convulsions, coma and ultimately, death. The entire sequence is not always seen. The dog may simply appear to be depressed or he may be weak, wobbly and jerky; or he may be found in a coma.
Hypoglycaemia can occur without warning when a puppy is placed in a new home, or while being shipped. It might appear after a puppy 
misses a meal, experiences chills, becomes exhausted from too much playing, or has a digestive upset. These upsets place an added strain on the energy reserves of the liver and bring on symptoms (especially if the dog is genetically predisposed to this ailment).
Puppies who daily and continuously eat rice and minced meat are more likely to develop hypoglycaemia. This is because their diet is deficient in certain ingredients needed to sustain the liver.
There is also a similar condition occurring in adult hunting dogs usually when they are out hunting. Care should be taken to feed these dogs a balanced diet long before the hunting exercise begins, so as to increase the protein in their diet.
Treatment
Treatment is directed at restoring adequate blood levels of glucose. Begin at once. Prolonged or repeated attacks can cause permanent damage to the brain. If the puppy is awake, give him orally honey or sugar in water. He will begin to improve in 30 minutes. When he is unconscious he will have to be given a dextrose solution intravenously. It may be necessary to treat for swelling of the brain. A veterinarian should be called in at once.
Prevent recurrent attacks by feeding a high quality commercial dog food diet and add to it sugar, syrup or honey. See that the puppy eats at least every eight hours and receives daily multivitamins, preferably in a liquid form, using the correct dosage or that which is recommended by the vet.
Breeders should wean puppies on a balanced diet. Food supplements should not exceed 10 per cent of the total ration. Owners of the small breed puppies should not overtire (over-exercise) them or allow them to chill.
A condition exists in which hypoglycaemia is persistent and continuous instead of periodic. This is due to an enzyme deficiency and is not responsive to treatment.
(The above text has relied heavily on the work of Drs Carlson and Giffin who produced a Handbook for dog lovers.)
I should mention that just as a dog/could have a low blood sugar level, so too can these animals fall ill because they have too much sugar circulating in the bloodstream (diabetes). Doing research for this article, I was quite surprised to find out that in North America cats exhibit diabetic conditions at an incidence of 1 in 400, and that this condition is becoming more and more prevalent. Allow me to share some superficial but interesting bits of information about diabetes in cats. Firstly, the symptoms are very similar to those in humans, actually 80-95% of diabetic cats experience something similar to type 2 diabetes in humans, but by the time the symptoms become pronounced and the ailment is diagnosed, the cat would have reached the stage of being severely insulin-dependent. Diabetes in cats does occur less frequently than in dogs. However, as in dogs, the condition is treatable, and need not shorten the animal’s life span or its quality of life. Actually, even in type-2 diabetic cats, prompt effective treatment can even lead to diabetic remission, in which the cat no longer needs injected insulin. Untreated, the ailment leads to increasingly weak legs, dehydration and death. At some other point, we’ll deal more comprehensively with the diabetes condition in adult dogs.
Please implement disease preventative measures (vaccinations, routine dewormings, monthly anti-heartworm medication, etc) and adopt-a-pet from the GSPCA’s Animal Clinic and Shelter at Robb Street and Orange Walk, if you have the wherewithal to care well for the animals. Do not stray your unwanted pets, take them to the GSPCA’s Clinic and Shelter instead. If you do not wish your pet to have puppies or kittens, you may exploit the GSPCA’s free spay and neutering programme. If you see anyone being cruel to an animal, or if you need any technical information, please get in touch with the Clinic and Shelter by calling 226-4237.
