Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

[Kirby's mom]

Hi everyone! My almost 12 year old Pomeranian was diagnosed with diabetes close to 3 years ago. We have managed it well with Humulin insulin. I have never had a problem at meal times! He has eaten Hills W/D 1/2c stew and 1/4c dry for breakfast and dinner and has loved it ever since his diagnosis. About 3 weeks ago, he was also diagnosed with pancreatitis. As he was recovering from that, he was on a more "bland" diet of simply chicken, a little rice, and cottage cheese. I tried several recipes. He refused all of the recipes I tried. He refused any of it mixed together, he refused the rice! He ended up only agreeing to eat ground chicken breast, ground 99% FF turkey and 1% cottage cheese, so this is what his diet consisted of. After a week -10 days I tried to start giving him some of his W/D food and he still refused, so I continued with the chicken/turkey combo and cottage cheese. Now he is refusing to eat that. Last night, I went back to regular chicken breasts, shredded, which he ate and a few bites of cottage cheese. I have tried sweet potatoes, I have made "cookies" out of his dog food and some veggies. I am new to making his food to really know what is good and nutritious for him because he has always loved the dog food and meal times have never been an issue. He is VERY picky. Suggestions? Tips? His vet has given me several recipes to try...and he doesn't like any of them! I will, of course, run anything by his vet! She is wonderful and is totally in this 100% with me! He currently takes 4.5 units of humulin-N 2x per day and weighs approx. 13 lbs. Sorry for the long post! Any help will be greatly appreciated! I love my boy so much!!

[jesse girl]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

Hi and welcome

Its not unusual to see a change in appetite after having pancreatitis do to how painful it can be .The healing can take quite sometime to get back to normal

You may have to give smaller meals to give the pancreas a rest and in time the appetite will return but its very possible to not be as robust before the event .

[Kirby's mom]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

Thank you. It worries me anytime he won't eat, but makes me feel better to know this may be normal. I will keep searching for other options to try to him that might peak his interest...and will be safe for him while he continues to heal!

[jesse girl]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

another factor is if blood sugar is higher that could also suppress appetite
and not feeling good

Its a really rough disease and slow to heal so patience is key . How are you dosing insulin with not eating well ?

[Kirby's mom]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

His normal dose is 4.5 units 2x daily with a full meal. His vet has instructed me to do only 2 units if he does not eat and to do a partial dose from there based on how much of his meal he eats. If he eats his full meal, of course, I give his full dose.

[Lchow022]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

Hi Kirby's mom!

I too have a diabetic Pomeranian and when he went through pancreatitis he did not want to eat anything...He was super picky with everything during recovery time as well and we just gave him whatever he wanted to eat. He's not so much of a picky eater now but during those times he didn't want to eat anything but chicken. Maybe just give him comfort food for now until he is fully better.

Also, do you do home blood sugar tests? I'd suggest you do it if you don't because my boy once in a while wouldn't feel like eating and when I test his bs it was super high and that was probably why.

[Kirby's mom]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

Hi Lchow022! Thanks for the reassurance! If you don't mind me asking...how long did it take before your baby was back to his "normal"? My Kirby was just went through his bout with pancreatitis on April 3. The vet and ER said we caught it early, thankfully, and he only had to spend 1 night in the ER...but it has been a roller coaster ever since. I just don't know what the norm is! I have tried numerous times testing his blood sugar at home...and it just does not work out well for me. I ordered the kit. The little lancets that come with the kit don't go deep enough to get a blood sample, so I have to try to use needles to get a sample from his ear...and I get so worked up when I try to do it, and then he gets worked up...that it never turns out well. It's just a big mess! I know others seem to do it with no problem, and I feel totally inadequate that I am not able to do so.

[Lchow022]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

Kirby got lucky that it got caught early. Mochi was suffering for about 3 weeks in and out of the hospital to get iv fluids...he even had to stay over night for three nights straight. He had it really bad and it hit him hard because I was ignorant and changed his diet to a raw pork diet right after he was diagnosed with diabetes. The owner of the raw food diet company recommended it to me it ended up almost killing him. He wasn't back to his normal self until maybe 3.5 weeks later. But I still needed to purchase a bag of sq fluid to do at home under the skin injections for another week. Did Kirby get any iv fluids at all?

Getting blood off a Pomeranian is super tricky...It took me a long time to find a spot and master poking him to get blood. I still sometimes fail because of how small his veins are.
I looked for a vein around his ear because it's one of the safer places to get blood from. I found a vein on the edge of his ear. I shaved off a bit of fur on the side and i would make sure to have good lighting. I would put him on my lap and we would both be facing the window or a bright lamp. If you look on the edge of his ear you will be able to find that vein too. That is where I would poke to get blood.

What kind of blood meter did you purchase? I suggest you get the alpha trek because it doesn't require a lot of blood and the amount of blood you are going to get will be really little unless you hit the good spot.
It is so handy to be able to test at home...you can save so much money and stress from bringing him into the vet to get curves done. Hopefully poor Kirby will eat again.

[amydunn19]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

Ears are pretty tricky. Does your dog have any skin tags or bumps? These usually give blood easily and don’t usually have nerve endings. You don’t need a vein to get blood. You also might try shaving some hair at the base of the tail. You will need a bigger lancet because the skin is thicker but most dogs will allow it.

[Kirby's mom]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

Lchow022,
Kirby did get IV fluids while he was at the ER. He was there for a little less than 24 hours. His regular vet is wonderful and I am so ridiculously anal about him that I call her anytime something is "off" with him. He had been reluctant to eat for a couple weeks, so she had done some bloodwork which had come back fine. Then, a little less than a week later, he ate a little of his breakfast, went outside and started eating grass and immediately started throwing up and threw up about 10 times in the course of about an hour. I, immediately, called his vet and she told him to bring him in and she was running every test imaginable on him! The rapid pancreatitis test came back immediately positive. She recommended that he stay in the ER overnight so they could give him IV fluids and monitor his glucose levels. I visited him the following morning and he ate some chicken and he didn't throw it up, all of his levels remained good, so they let me bring him home that evening. I have the alpha track meter, as well. I give the at home testing a try every now and then...but I find that I am so nervous about it, that it make him get even more worked up..he ends up biting me most of the time! It's just an awful time for both of us!

amydunn19,
I've watched a couple videos and I've tried on his paw pad and on his "elbow" area...but I have never been able to get any blood at all from those areas! I just have the most awful time. I feel sorry for my poor guy when I try to do it here at home.

[amydunn19]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

As far as eating, my Maggie was so picky. She struggled with pancreatitis her entire life. She was bitten by a copperhead when she was about a year old. She would not eat WD or ID or any prescription food and many commercial diets as well. I just kept trying things and finally we found some that she would eat reliably. Sometimes, their taste just changes with pancreatitis. Just try to keep the fat levels low. You can always use boiled chicken and soak the kibble. It is easier to digest.

Have you ever tried feeding something small in between ? Maggie ate 4 times a day - she had two bigger meals and two smaller less carby meals. She would throw up this foamy mess if she went 12 hours between meals.

[Kirby's mom]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

amydunn19, I do try to do that on days that I am home, unfortunately, I work full time, so I am not here throughout the day 5 days a week. Trust me...I wish I was! I am just following his lead and doing the best I can! I had mixed up some "cookie dough" out of his crushed up dry royal canin GI, dry hills w/d and canned royal canin GI food, and some organic sweet potato baby food (no additives..just sweet potato). I was baking it into cookies, which he seemed to like for a while, then lost his taste for it. He now seems to have gained an interest in it not baked..just the raw "dough"! So I am giving him that with his chicken at meal times and he is eating it up! I'm thankful when I find something good for him that he likes! I love that sweet boy and it just hurts my heart when I feel like I don't know what to do to take care of him!

My Kirby is very picky too. And, I think his taste may have just changed with the pancreatitis...like you said.

Sounds like your little Maggie was very loved! <3

[jesse girl]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

Usually for a biological animal eating is equated to pleasure and the brain supplies dopamine to reinforce that desire

With pancreatitis it may change that equation from the pleasure of eating to pain and it may remain psychologically after the pain is gone .

I took a very different approach and switched jesse to one meal a day . Jesse never had the problems as amys Maggie with needing to eat more meals

It worked out well for her . Adequate blood sugar and no additional pancreatic attacks

[amydunn19]

Re: Feeding help, tips, tricks and suggestions!

My vet once told me that smaller dogs are more likely to need that extra food. I don’t think he felt that was a scientific fact - just something he observed. Diabetes is so individual. You try things to solve problems. You hope something works and you can just manage not to really mess it up. But I learned that Maggie was tough as nails so they are not as fragile as we sometimes perceive them to be. Because I messed up a whole lot with her.