Feeling defeated :(

[jesz9]

Hello,

I have an almost 10 year old Pom mix. About a month or so ago she started acting funny. She wouldn't eat until very late in the day, very sleepy and started having accidents. She was on meds for her arthritis so the vet wanted to do bloodwork. Her BG was like 500 something. So she took her off her arthritis meds and said lets try diet control. We tried w/d wet and dry. She wouldn't eat the dry so they moved her to I/d dry and w/d wet. Checked her numbers 2 weeks later and it was still high, 600 something I believe. Started her on 3 units of insulin Novulin. Recheck last wed and she was at 400 something. Vet was happy she is coming down. Upped insulin to 4 units twice a day. Recheck in 2 weeks. I had a diabetic cat several years ago but this still feels all so new to me. I'm so worried she will go into shock or something while i'm not here. On a personal note, my name is Jess, I am married with 2 year old boy girl twins Thanks for listening to my story.

[Monsters Momma]

Re: New to this

Hi and Welcome!
You really have found a great forum for info and support from people that deal with this diabetes thing day to day! Sounds like you might have your hands full with twins and a pup with diabetes! Hopefully you'll find the help you need here.

A couple of things that might be helpful...keep a log of shots, food, weight of your pup, exercise and anything that might make that day special. I am trying to re-create mine and believe me, I wish I had kept up on it! Also, I went back and got all of Vinny's test results, weigh in's, etc. since he was diagnosed. I'm keeping it all in a binder for quick access. Others have done remarkable jobs with this, you might check out http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/show...7&postcount=26 if you really want to see a lot of info! Brooke is also testing blood glucose at home and keeping track of that as well. One last thing, it's best to feed and give insulin on a 12 hour schedule. Vinny was used to free feeding, but quickly came around when I started picking up his food.

Could you tell us a bit more about your pup? Name? Weight? Insulin? Food? Did your vet do a curve or did she just do one test? Does your pup have any other medical issues? Unfortunately, diabetic cats and diabetic dogs do not resemble each other. I think it was Amy that just explained why somewhere, I'll take a look for it if she doesn't post.

I know it's a lot to handle, but all of this will become second nature. It has for us!

[parje1]

Re: New to this

Welcome to the forum

This is a great place for support, information, and even a shoulder to cry on.

My Lab was diagnosed towards the end of January. She is just starting to regulate. Some dogs seem to regulate quickly and others it takes time.

I second writing everything down and making sure you are on a set schedule for food and medicine.

Diabetes can feel overwhelming. Just know that we are all here to help you.

-Jen

[Charlie's mom]

Re: New to this

Welcome to the forum Jess! These are a great group of newbies and veterans who will be happy to help. Since you are probably just a wee bit busy with tour toddlers I second keeping a log! We have another newbie who mentioned she keeps her log on a webpage to share with her vet; I use Google Docs a lot for work and those are easy to share,

Good luck to you!

[jesz9]

Chloe is diabetic

Hi, I came on here a few months ago when my pom mix was first diagnosed with diabetes, then I forgot about this site Her symptoms were accidents in the house, drinking a lot and not eating well.

I'm here looking for help. Chloe weighs 18 pounds...used to weigh like 21 before she was diagnosed. Now she is maintaining. SO, she is on Humulin N. 8 units twice a day. Everytime she gets her sugar checked her number is around 400. Today it was 386 4 hours after insulin. The vet said she has never seen a dog that always is that high of number...even though we keep increasing her insulin..so we did a curve 2 weeks ago, here was the findings.

8:45a 318 no food or insulin
10:50 365
11:05a gave 7 units insulin
12:55p 277
3:05p 192
5:00p 172
7:15p 238

She gets her insuilin around 10am and 10 pm each day.

This curve showed that the insulin is working I guess the vet said. so now today 2 weeks later after they upped her to 8 units her number was 386...so they said in 2 weeks if her sugar is still high we will switch insulins....could it be she is just super nervous at the vet raising her numbers?? She seemed pretty happy with the curve that day....she mentioned in the beginning maybe home monitoring but nothing further has been discussed....

She eats dry ID and proplan plus wet WD and wet AD...plus mixed with either cottage cheese, hard boiled egg or boiled chicken *the vet said these were ok options to get her to eat as we had trouble with her eating plain food since diabetic* Thanks for any help...I feel lost

[JoJo's mom]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

Hi First of all hang in there. My dog jojo has had diabetes for over 4 years. It can be very frustrating in the beginning to regulate. I would highly recommend that you test at home so that you have a better idea of what your dogs numbers really are. You can do curves at home which is much less stressful for your dog. Everyone here can help you. You are not alone.

[jesse girl]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

the curve you posted on 7 units is pretty good and many would be very happy with that .

as you can see from the curve the lowest blood sugar is not 4 hours after insulin and not even 6 so basing a dose adjustment on one numbers is not a good idea . the numbers may have went lower than on 7 units with the adjustment to 8

now big swings in blood sugar can point to a dose thats to much and something to keep in mind . sometime we can pass the dose thats needed with limited testing

i would also recommend you home test. i dont think you have an insulin problem

[amydunn19]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

The insulin is bringing her down so I agree it is not the problem. Are you being consistent with her food and insulin at the same times every day? Are you measuring food? I would try to keep her meals the same. It is fine to add things to get her to eat but if you use several different things, you will get erratic readings and her sugar won't be consistent.

I am curious just wondering about doing ID, WD and AD prescription foods all together plus another dog food. That seems rather complicated - why so many ? If she doesn't like the foods she is eating and her meal has to be that complicated, maybe finding a combo she likes might be easier. It just seems like you must be throwing away alot of food with all those options. Prescription food is so expensive and I would think just a tiny amount of each wouldn't be of much benefit of what the food is "treating".

Being at the vet office can contribute to false high readings especially if she is not comfortable there. Home testing is easier than you think and you don't need permission to do it. It really is the best way to get better control of blood sugar.

We can help you get started blood testing. It is the single best thing I did for my dog.

[Emily]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

In terms of diet....I tried a quite a few different combinations before I found what works. At one time I was adding lots of different things together, but it ended up being too confusing and overwhelming. If you can simplify I would try that. The website dogfoodadvisor.com was really helpful. It offers descriptions of TONS of different foods and their dietary pros and cons. There is also a calculator to help determine how much to feed to maintain, lose or gain weight.

I agree with others....blood testing at home was the best thing I did for Elliot during this process. Although we have had a bumpy ride on this rocky road of diabetes...it would have been SO MUCH worse if I wasn't checking his blood at home. The folks on this site were the ones who taught me how to do it....so much easier than I thought it would be.

Best of luck!!

[k9diabetes]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

That curve certainly shows an insulin that is working...

How often have curves been done?

What time are the spot blood readings being taken?

Since she is maintaining her weight and has responded well to the insulin in terms of it dropping her blood sugar, I don't know that changing insulins would be my first attempt at resolving a problem. And I'm not sure how much of a problem there is. She could do well if her blood sugar looked like this curve every day. She reached some 300s but only briefly and perhaps mostly because she had late insulin and breakfast.

I would recommend home blood sugar testing. It would allow you to do several curves over a week or two perhaps and get a really good sense of what her blood sugar is doing at home on her normal meal and exercise routine.

You can see video tutorials on getting a blood sample for testing at www.k9diabetes.com/bgtestvideos.html.

And I like the OneTouch Ultra meter best among the human meters.

I wouldn't worry too much about her overall. She's maintaining her weight and the curve was good so I don't think she's all that far astray. Some dogs never do any better than what I see here.

Natalie

Hi, I came on here a few months ago when my pom mix was first diagnosed with diabetes, then I forgot about this site Her symptoms were accidents in the house, drinking a lot and not eating well.

I'm here looking for help. Chloe weighs 18 pounds...used to weigh like 21 before she was diagnosed. Now she is maintaining. SO, she is on Humulin N. 8 units twice a day. Everytime she gets her sugar checked her number is around 400. Today it was 386 4 hours after insulin. The vet said she has never seen a dog that always is that high of number...even though we keep increasing her insulin..so we did a curve 2 weeks ago, here was the findings.

8:45a 318 no food or insulin
10:50 365
11:05a gave 7 units insulin
12:55p 277
3:05p 192
5:00p 172
7:15p 238

She gets her insuilin around 10am and 10 pm each day.

This curve showed that the insulin is working I guess the vet said. so now today 2 weeks later after they upped her to 8 units her number was 386...so they said in 2 weeks if her sugar is still high we will switch insulins....could it be she is just super nervous at the vet raising her numbers?? She seemed pretty happy with the curve that day....she mentioned in the beginning maybe home monitoring but nothing further has been discussed....

She eats dry ID and proplan plus wet WD and wet AD...plus mixed with either cottage cheese, hard boiled egg or boiled chicken *the vet said these were ok options to get her to eat as we had trouble with her eating plain food since diabetic* Thanks for any help...I feel lost

[jesz9]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

Hi, I Just want to thank all of you that replied. You gave me a lot to think about!!!!! The vet wanted choloe on ID and WD, but when I said she wouldn't eat the ID alone she told me to sprinkle in ID in her normal Pro Plan food....so that's what we did. But now I can see what you are saying, she is probably not getting enough for it to even matter. So, since talking to you girls I have taken out the ID food to try and simplify it. SO, oh I am also gradually switching her to Senior Pro Plan per vets advice. SO, now she is getting Dry proplan, and then a small plate of WD wet with a tiny bit of AD. Chloe is a late sleeper, she normally gets up about 10am LOL. So I give food and insulin between 10 and 11 everyday. I just can't seem to get her up much earlier. You also got me thinking, we have not been measuring her food, so I started measuring out 1/2 cup of dry food per feeding. Thanks for the advice!

I may ask you girls to walk me thru the testing at home process. Chloe goes back to vet this wed and i'm going to also bring it up to the vet. Oh someone asked what time she is getting her blood draws at vet, the vet said 4 hours after insulin, so normally 2:30 she goes to vet..thast when her numbers have been pushing 400.

What are healthy snacks? Chloe is a begger

[Charlie's mom]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

Charlie shares a wee bit of low fat string cheese around the 8 hour mark. He also needs artificial tears 5-6 times a day so we given him home made chicken jerky as a reward (slice a boneless breast as thin as you can (helps if it still a little frozen) and bake at 200 on a cookie sheet covered with foil until dried out..about 3-4 hours) Once cool cut into strips and store in the fridge. We freeze about half of it. He always loved carrots but those are higher in sugar so he only gets half of a baby carrot after his walks

[jesz9]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

Thank you so much Charlies mom for sharing your recipes and food choices with me, this helps!!!! I will have to make some of that jerky, she would love that I bet!

The vet gave me the go ahead to start testing at home, chloe was at 380 4.5 hours after insulin. SO we are going to see if its cause shes nervous at the vet or what. I have a freestyle meter that I used when I had gestational diabetes. Any suggestions on testing? THe tech showed me how to prick her paw pad. How often do you guys test??

[JoJo's mom]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

Hi
I think that most people here test at least once to a couple of times a day.
You can also do your own curve at home which is very helpful to see what her numbers are for a full day.
I test JoJo on the inside of him upper lip and he doesn't mind at all and I get plenty of blood.

Mary

[amydunn19]

Re: Chloe is diabetic

I use the base of the tail but you may need to shave hair a bit. The skin is tough there.