Hi, our dog Zipp was diagnosed about two months ago. We have two vets, a holistic and a conventional; our holistic is our first vet, but he does not have a full-service office (he's in his 70s!) so we took Zipp to the conventional vet for a diagnosis, treatment, etc.
Zipp is eleven and a half years old; we adopted her almost three years ago from Almost Home Rescue. She had a horrible life in Arkansas, then was rescued by a wonderful woman who runs a great shelter. She was treated for heartworm, spent 11 months in the shelter, then four months in two foster homes in New England. She is a border collie/beagle mix, she rarely barks and never wags her tail, but she is just a super dog.
We had a terrible heat wave in July and the conventional vet thought it might have been the last straw as far as stress goes. They think Zipp has Cushing's as well, but we did not want to spend the money for diagnosis/treatment, and I will not leave her anywhere because she is very, very attached to me. Our holistic vet gave me some herbs that he uses for Cushing's.
Zipp's blood sugar has been very high since her diagnosis. Her fasting urine strip shows glucose of 1000; any time we've used a glucometer at the vet's, it's been 600 or 700. BUT, since she's been taking insulin -- currently at 10 units 3x daily (the conventional vet told us to reduce it, the holistic vet to slowly increase it when we were giving her 7 units 3x daily) -- she does not have excessive thirst or urination, her eyes are bright, her nose is wet, and she goes for walks on her own two or three times a day, exploring our fields and gardens.
When she was very ill, her appetite became capricious, which was highly unusual. She is now back to her usual beagle appetite. We feed her three times a day, either canned salmon, raw ground chicken carcasses, raw liver or beef, or high-quality canned dog food, plus ground vegetables or squash and supplements. She gets Organix treats or little biscuits after every shot.
What amazes me is that her sugar is still obviously high -- we borrowed a glucometer, put in a new battery, still doesn't work, have to decide whether to spend the bucks for one from the vet -- but she looks really good except for being thin and attracting fleas (big flea problem in this area this year). When she was diagnosed, we thought it was basically the end, but she is doing great. Someone told me that their cat had incredibly high sugar for seven years! Has anyone else had this experience? Does anyone have some good advice? Considering her age and history, we are very happy with how she is doing.
Zipp is eleven and a half years old; we adopted her almost three years ago from Almost Home Rescue. She had a horrible life in Arkansas, then was rescued by a wonderful woman who runs a great shelter. She was treated for heartworm, spent 11 months in the shelter, then four months in two foster homes in New England. She is a border collie/beagle mix, she rarely barks and never wags her tail, but she is just a super dog.
We had a terrible heat wave in July and the conventional vet thought it might have been the last straw as far as stress goes. They think Zipp has Cushing's as well, but we did not want to spend the money for diagnosis/treatment, and I will not leave her anywhere because she is very, very attached to me. Our holistic vet gave me some herbs that he uses for Cushing's.
Zipp's blood sugar has been very high since her diagnosis. Her fasting urine strip shows glucose of 1000; any time we've used a glucometer at the vet's, it's been 600 or 700. BUT, since she's been taking insulin -- currently at 10 units 3x daily (the conventional vet told us to reduce it, the holistic vet to slowly increase it when we were giving her 7 units 3x daily) -- she does not have excessive thirst or urination, her eyes are bright, her nose is wet, and she goes for walks on her own two or three times a day, exploring our fields and gardens.
When she was very ill, her appetite became capricious, which was highly unusual. She is now back to her usual beagle appetite. We feed her three times a day, either canned salmon, raw ground chicken carcasses, raw liver or beef, or high-quality canned dog food, plus ground vegetables or squash and supplements. She gets Organix treats or little biscuits after every shot.
What amazes me is that her sugar is still obviously high -- we borrowed a glucometer, put in a new battery, still doesn't work, have to decide whether to spend the bucks for one from the vet -- but she looks really good except for being thin and attracting fleas (big flea problem in this area this year). When she was diagnosed, we thought it was basically the end, but she is doing great. Someone told me that their cat had incredibly high sugar for seven years! Has anyone else had this experience? Does anyone have some good advice? Considering her age and history, we are very happy with how she is doing.
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