# Glucagon in eleven dogs with insulinoma

> Glucagon and eleven dogs | Peptide for Pups — Peptide for Pups examines a retrospective glucagon report in 11 dogs with insulinoma and dangerously low blood sugar, treated in hospital.

**Hospital treatment**

Here the dogs were ill and receiving treatment. The evidence comes from looking back at their care.

## The illness being treated

An insulinoma is an insulin-producing tumour. The [2020 glucagon report](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32655157/) describes 11 dogs with insulinoma who received treatment in hospital for dangerously low blood sugar. Glucagon is a hormone that raises blood sugar.

This is a more immediate clinical setting than the healthy-beagle experiments. The illness in those dogs and the specific treatment purpose are why this report matters to me. That makes the report relevant to a narrow question about hospital care.

## Looking back at treatment

The study was [retrospective and descriptive](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32655157/): the investigators looked back at treated cases. There was no comparison group. The authors concluded that glucagon therapy was effective in managing low blood sugar in these insulinoma cases.

I take their conclusion seriously within the limits of those cases. Eleven dogs without a comparison group leave me reluctant to make a general rule. It records veterinary treatment of a dangerous condition; it gives an owner no basis for attempting that treatment at home.

## Glucagon's animal-drug record

The [animal-drug database check](https://animaldrugsatfda.fda.gov/adafda/views/#/search) recorded on September 30, 2026 found no FDA animal application for glucagon. The treatment report and the regulatory record answer separate questions: one describes the cases, while the other records the animal-drug status checked on that date.

I would bring this paper into a discussion with a veterinarian about insulinoma, with the hospital setting and small retrospective design still attached. A claim about peptides for all dogs would lose the very particulars that make this report worth considering.

The [veterinarian page](/veterinarian) explains the conditions around use of an approved medicine outside its label.

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At Peptide for Pups I follow the dogs enrolled in published research; these pages offer no medical advice, and care for an actual animal rests with its veterinarian.