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Sorry if this gets long-winded, but I'm still in shock.
My husband and I rescued a Boston Terrier, George, 1.5 years ago, from a no-kill shelter. We were told he was approximately 4-years old (though our vet claims he is much older). We already had a Boston, Butch, who we had since a pup, and Butch is 10.5 years old.
These dogs couldn't be any different in attitude and demeanor. They look a lot alike, and are approximately the same size, but Butch has no-end to energy, and George has always been laid back and docile. We love them both to no end.
Around Christmas-time, we noticed George began having problems with urinating in the house, and wetting the bed while sleeping. He was drinking much more water than usual. We took him to our vet after this went on 4-5 days, and he was diagnosed with diabetes.
He was immediately prescribed insulin injections, with a new feeding schedule, 2X/day. We had previously only fed them 1X/day. George has always been a fast eater with endless hunger, and Butch would eat when he was hungry, rarely finishing his food at one sitting (until George came along and began finishing it for him if Butch walked away from his bowl).
George has already reduced his water consumption to near normal levels, and stopped urinating in the house (though he's let out more frequently than normal, since it is very, very cold here; <0°F.
Our vet didn't mention self-monitoring his levels. I want to thank you for providing info on this forum, and I have read the story/struggle of Chris. I'm not sure the exact brand of insulin, since I'm at work now, but we purchased the prescription at Walmart. George was also prescribed a powder to put on his food once/day, and an antibiotic to tackle a bladder infection due to high glucose levels in his urine.
I have some experience testing for BG levels in people, since my mother-in-law had Type II, and I had worked with her when she became too old to monitor herself. We also have experience administering shots to dogs, since our late lab had Addison's Disease that required injections every 28 days to keep him alive. I'm just happy that George doesn't show any signs of pain when injected; that would break my heart even more.
The main question I have is this: I have seen many people talking about the vet not trusting their home test results with the meters used on humans, or confirming those readings with a vet's meter before trusting the numbers. Like I said, our vet didn't even mention home-monitoring for some reason. Why, if I perform the proper calibration on the meter, should we not trust the test results, or duplicate the first couple curves with the vet's meter? I am a test engineer (not related to medical testing though), and am confident that I can obtain accurate results with an accurate meter, if testing on George is not too different than testing on my mother-in-law.
My biggest concern for the little guy is stress, right now, at least: we are moving to a new home next week, and that will be stressful enough, but there are going to be five days in between selling our current home and buying our new home. Both dogs (and people) will see a lot of stress during the change.
He was recently diagnosed, and I haven't purchased a meter, yet. I was hoping to allow George to go two weeks with his initial prescription levels (5-units insulin with food, twice/day), before beginning his first BG curve. Part of that wait time is for stabilization, and the other part is simply time during our move. Is that too long to wait before performing the first curve? Our vet did not prescribe a specific food, but we've always fed our little guys healthy Taste of the Wild food, as opposed to cheaper store brands like Purina, for instance. That began with our lab with Addison's, and the healthier food helped him <i>a lot</i>.
Again, thanks to all for the excellent information here on this site, and it helps to see everyone's stories.
Regards,
Shelly in Wisconsin
My husband and I rescued a Boston Terrier, George, 1.5 years ago, from a no-kill shelter. We were told he was approximately 4-years old (though our vet claims he is much older). We already had a Boston, Butch, who we had since a pup, and Butch is 10.5 years old.
These dogs couldn't be any different in attitude and demeanor. They look a lot alike, and are approximately the same size, but Butch has no-end to energy, and George has always been laid back and docile. We love them both to no end.
Around Christmas-time, we noticed George began having problems with urinating in the house, and wetting the bed while sleeping. He was drinking much more water than usual. We took him to our vet after this went on 4-5 days, and he was diagnosed with diabetes.
He was immediately prescribed insulin injections, with a new feeding schedule, 2X/day. We had previously only fed them 1X/day. George has always been a fast eater with endless hunger, and Butch would eat when he was hungry, rarely finishing his food at one sitting (until George came along and began finishing it for him if Butch walked away from his bowl).
George has already reduced his water consumption to near normal levels, and stopped urinating in the house (though he's let out more frequently than normal, since it is very, very cold here; <0°F.
Our vet didn't mention self-monitoring his levels. I want to thank you for providing info on this forum, and I have read the story/struggle of Chris. I'm not sure the exact brand of insulin, since I'm at work now, but we purchased the prescription at Walmart. George was also prescribed a powder to put on his food once/day, and an antibiotic to tackle a bladder infection due to high glucose levels in his urine.
I have some experience testing for BG levels in people, since my mother-in-law had Type II, and I had worked with her when she became too old to monitor herself. We also have experience administering shots to dogs, since our late lab had Addison's Disease that required injections every 28 days to keep him alive. I'm just happy that George doesn't show any signs of pain when injected; that would break my heart even more.
The main question I have is this: I have seen many people talking about the vet not trusting their home test results with the meters used on humans, or confirming those readings with a vet's meter before trusting the numbers. Like I said, our vet didn't even mention home-monitoring for some reason. Why, if I perform the proper calibration on the meter, should we not trust the test results, or duplicate the first couple curves with the vet's meter? I am a test engineer (not related to medical testing though), and am confident that I can obtain accurate results with an accurate meter, if testing on George is not too different than testing on my mother-in-law.
My biggest concern for the little guy is stress, right now, at least: we are moving to a new home next week, and that will be stressful enough, but there are going to be five days in between selling our current home and buying our new home. Both dogs (and people) will see a lot of stress during the change.
He was recently diagnosed, and I haven't purchased a meter, yet. I was hoping to allow George to go two weeks with his initial prescription levels (5-units insulin with food, twice/day), before beginning his first BG curve. Part of that wait time is for stabilization, and the other part is simply time during our move. Is that too long to wait before performing the first curve? Our vet did not prescribe a specific food, but we've always fed our little guys healthy Taste of the Wild food, as opposed to cheaper store brands like Purina, for instance. That began with our lab with Addison's, and the healthier food helped him <i>a lot</i>.
Again, thanks to all for the excellent information here on this site, and it helps to see everyone's stories.
Regards,
Shelly in Wisconsin
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