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Diabetes and Insulin - About

The Diabetic Dog educational game, with two related readings, are based on the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded for discovering the hormone insulin, making it possible to treat people suffering from diabetes.

First published: February 2009
Estimated play time: 10-15 min.
Plug in requirements: Flash 6 »
Sound: Yes
High score: No
Credits »
Disclaimer: The educational game "The diabetic dog" shows in a simplified way how managing type-1 diabetes requires maintaining blood sugar at a normal level.

Diabetic Dog Game

- What is the disease diabetes about?
- What happens to the blood sugar level when you have diabetes?
- What is insulin?
- What shall someone suffering from diabetes do if he/she has got a too high blood sugar level?
- What shall someone suffering from diabetes do if he/she has got a too low blood sugar level?

Although insulin doesn't cure diabetes, it's one of the biggest discoveries in medicine made in the 1920s. When it came, it was like a miracle. People with severe diabetes and only days left to live were saved. And as long as they kept getting their insulin, they could live an almost normal life.

In this game your dog has type-1 diabetes. This is a very serious disease. With proper treatment, however, your dog can live a happy life for many years. When we eat, the blood sugar level in our blood rises, and the hormone insulin is released into the blood stream to regulate the sugar level. A diabetic dog does not produce or properly use insulin and therefore has to get it through injections. Your mission is to take care of your dog and try to avoid letting him/her reach too high or too low levels of blood sugar - the more successful you are the more money you will get for which you can buy food and upgrade your dog's foodbowl or doghouse!

For instructions on how to play the game, click on the HELP button found at the bottom of the game window.

Reading: "The Discovery of Insulin"

- Introduction
- Banting's idea
- The experiment begins
- Extended tests
- Testing on humans
- The Nobel Prize

Read "The Discovery of Insulin" »

Reading: "Facts about Diabetes and Insulin"

- Introduction
- Banting's idea
- Production of Insulin
- More About Diabetes - Type 1 and Type 2
- Diabetes - a Global Problem

Read "Facts about Diabetes and Insulin" »