Baron so far...

[kirstin]

Baron is mainly wolf, mixed from many different breeds (his breeder said some of it was bred from White Fang) and malamute. He is six years old and about four months ago I noticed that he was drinking so much water, and urinating very often. He sometimes couldn't wait for my husband and I to get home from work and would go in the house, which is something he never did before. My father has diabetes, and I remember when he was first diagnosed, that the symptoms struck a chord with me. But I thought no, dogs can't get diabetes. My husband had a dog previously with diabetes and I brought it up to him, well once he informed me that dogs could get this disease, we immediately took him to the vet and sure enough he was diagnosed. He weighs about 90 pounds, and because of his breed they weren't sure if we would be able to control it. But from a BG of over 400, he is now 175 and seems much happier. He bounces, and I haven't seen that in a long while. It makes me so happy. We are now taking him for longer walks and making sure he gets alot of exercise, to way out with the kCal he is using. Right now he is on Vetsulin, but the doc wants to switch to Humulin N so we will be doing that this coming week. He gets 20 iu of the Vetsulin and when we switch will be starting at 11 iu of the Humulin. Right now, we are working out a deal with the vet, and paying them when we get paid, as we are both trying to get second jobs so that we can keep him healthy. We take him to the vet to monitor his BG, but I think will be getting the iPet monitoring system. Other than the diabetes, he is a healthy guy, and I hope will maintain that exuberance that he has right now! I love him and my little Mittaa (mini intelligent tactical terrorizing assault animal) whom we rescued from some idiot ranchers that had no use for her and were just going to put her in a pillowcase and drown her in the river! Both of the pups are just the loves of our lives! I have pics up, who couldn't love these two, I don't know!
Thanks to all of you, and if you have any advice, since I am new, I would greatly appreciate it!

[eileen]

Welcome Kirstin,

What beautiful country Colorado is, years ago I traveled from California to Aspen, absolutely loved the gorgeous scenery.

Just want to touch on your mentioned choice of meter, the IPet. Personally I would not recommend this meter to anyone as I've not heard good reports.

If you are looking for an animal validated meter I would highly recommend the Alpha Trak, otherwise a human meter, the One Touch Ultra 2.

My choice is now the Alpha Trak, before that the Accu Chek Aviva as well as the Freestyle Lite.

My Mildred has been using NPH insulin for all of her 5 3/4 years as a diabetic.

If you have a Walmart or Sams Club close by you can purchase ReliOn Novolin N for about 25.00. It is made by Novo Nordisk with the ReliOn label so it can be sold at a cheaper price than in other pharmacies.
Walmart also carries ReliOn syringes which run about 13.00 for a box of 100. You will need these U100 syringes when switching from Vetsulin which is U40.


Exercise can really have an effect on their glucose levels. Sometimes decreasing and other times can increase. It is sometimes not recommended to exercise them when their bgs are over 250 as it can raise them dramatically. This is an area that once testing you need to really experiment with to find how it affects your dog as with everything they are all so diffenent.

Wishing you much luck as you begin this journey....

[kirstin]

I just recently changed Baron's Vetsulin to Humulin and he seems to be doing quite well on it. When I started changing him, he did drink alot more water, and have to go to the bathroom more, but now seems to have stabilized. He is acting happier and bouncing. We are going for long walks, ran and shine, and he seems happy to be doing that. I tell you how wonderful it is to have him doing well, but in the back of my mind monitoring him and I am worrying that he will take a turn and his eye sight will start going. My husband and I will have to deal with that when that happens. For now I am just enjoying the companionship and the kisses that go both ways with it...

[Patty]

Hi Kirsten,
Good to hear from you. :) I copied your post to your thread in the Diabetes Discussion forum. This is where most people with see it and be able to respond: http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1901

Take care,
Patty