Griffin Buckley October 6th 2008 To December 29 2021

[emz.buckley]

Hello,

So I accidentally changed my opening message... sorry its been a stressful few week so my brain is all over the place, lol! I'll repost Griffin's story.

Griffin is a 10 year old Bichon. No symptoms of diabetes until he had an acetone breath and was taken straight to the vets where he was diagnosed with diabetes. His blood glucose were 21 when they should have been 10. Liver has been affected, he had keytones in his urine which was brown on the urine sample scale. Was taken in for a curve and put on 4 units of insulin a day and the special tinned diet. Had to swap to the raw diet because the tin stuff affected his stomach and he ended up throwing up all night so he is now on a raw diet. He has 5 onzes of food twice a day, two shots of insulin twice a day, 6 in the morning and 5 at night, two liver pills a day and a heart pill. Have gotten his blood glucose under control in 5 weeks.

This board has literally been my family and i's life save and kept us sane over the past few weeks so thank you so much!

[jesse girl]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

hi and welcome

yes it can be quite the journey and you got to catch on fairly quickly .the hardest part is there is no routine set in stone that can guarantee quick success

we do know complete glucose curve's done every week to 2 weeks is important in terms of adjusting the dose and to go in fairly small increments making those adjustments . going passed a dose thats needed can lead to big problems possibly low sugar and extend the regulation period . many times you may see higher sugar

another thing is to have a consistent routine same time same amount for just about everything especially during the regulation period and after there could be some flexibility

my jesse is on a partially raw diet and the one thing i am flexible with is jesses raw vegetables . i use a variety of them same amount but different types .all vegetables are grinned down in a food processor .

jesse has spent more time in her life being diabetic than not so basically this is normal for her and it has not changed who she is which is a delightful beagle who enjoys life

[Raysaint]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

Generally as the dog's sugar gets stabilized and in a better range, they'll slowly gain their weight back. My only concern is if he's getting enough carbs. He won't gain much weight on veggies and protein.
Carbs are not to be afraid of, it's what fuels the body, and the right dose of insulin will balance it out.

[Judi]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

I'm glad you are on the right track. He may need more food as his body settles down. I don't think their bodies process calories well at all when their blood sugar is really high.

Just keep in mind that if you do wind up increasing his food, you will probably need to increase his insulin also. That isn't the end of the world, just the way it goes.

Sounds like you are doing great. This forum was a great help to me back when it was all new to me also.

hang in there

[amydunn19]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

Welcome to you and Griffin! Once his blood sugar gets in better range, the weight will come back. When blood sugar is high, they can eat so much and still not gain an ounce. It is like the food doesn’t do them any good.

[martorso]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

Hi and welcome!
Well, first of all, you´re in the right place. I´ve learnt so much in this forum....people here is amazing and always answer any given question, so, don´t worry.
My lab was diagnosed a year ago. He´s 10 and a half yr/old and yes, in the beginning he lost a lot of weight and it was pretty scary because, unlike most labs, ours was pretty fit and had no fat at all, so he looked really sick when he lost all that weight. It took nearly 10 months to get back to his old shape, so, take it easy, it won´t happen in two weeks....it takes time.
Finding the right dose isn´t easy either, it takes a few curves and lost of little adjustments before you can consider it "stable" , and still, you will want to test him everytime before his meals. I think you´re using urine test strips. You better get a meter and start blood-testing him. Easier than it sounds.
As for the raw meals? my dog, Rocco, is on raw meals I cook him. It´s based on chicken, brown rice or quinoa, and green veggies (green beans, broccoli, spinach, chard...) He also gets a Dentastix before our afternoon walk. He gets 4 walks/day, first one in the morning it´s just a 10 min walk, then by lunch he gets a 15 min walk, in the afternoon a 1 hr/walk and the last one, at night, it´s usually 20 min. He´s on vetsulin, and gets 8 units twice a day. He´s 54 lb. If you want to watch him eat his raw food, here´s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcFae3-NcVc
Rocco also has some allergies, such as hay fever, and takes Apoquel.
Don´t worry, diabetes is something they can live with

[emz.buckley]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

Generally as the dog's sugar gets stabilized and in a better range, they'll slowly gain their weight back. My only concern is if he's getting enough carbs. He won't gain much weight on veggies and protein.
Carbs are not to be afraid of, it's what fuels the body, and the right dose of insulin will balance it out.

Yeah, his blood sugar has gone down since putting the carbs back in. What happened was we put peas into his diet as well as the rice and his sugar went up so we decided to take them both out to bring the sugar back down and it did so we stuck with that diet but he obviously needs the carbs to make the insulin last longer so they are back in. He won't be having peas though, they don't suit his blood sugar at all which is odd because they are recommended as part of the diet but he just doesn't suit him so we have taken them out.

[emz.buckley]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

Hi and welcome!
Well, first of all, you´re in the right place. I´ve learnt so much in this forum....people here is amazing and always answer any given question, so, don´t worry.
My lab was diagnosed a year ago. He´s 10 and a half yr/old and yes, in the beginning he lost a lot of weight and it was pretty scary because, unlike most labs, ours was pretty fit and had no fat at all, so he looked really sick when he lost all that weight. It took nearly 10 months to get back to his old shape, so, take it easy, it won´t happen in two weeks....it takes time.
Finding the right dose isn´t easy either, it takes a few curves and lost of little adjustments before you can consider it "stable" , and still, you will want to test him everytime before his meals. I think you´re using urine test strips. You better get a meter and start blood-testing him. Easier than it sounds.
As for the raw meals? my dog, Rocco, is on raw meals I cook him. It´s based on chicken, brown rice or quinoa, and green veggies (green beans, broccoli, spinach, chard...) He also gets a Dentastix before our afternoon walk. He gets 4 walks/day, first one in the morning it´s just a 10 min walk, then by lunch he gets a 15 min walk, in the afternoon a 1 hr/walk and the last one, at night, it´s usually 20 min. He´s on vetsulin, and gets 8 units twice a day. He´s 54 lb. If you want to watch him eat his raw food, here´s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcFae3-NcVc
Rocco also has some allergies, such as hay fever, and takes Apoquel.
Don´t worry, diabetes is something they can live with

Thank you very much!!

Griffin's weight has stabilised which is good so he isn't losing anymore weight which is a relief because he was looking rather thin, lol!! He isn't a heavy dog but he is muscly so him losing weight has been rather startling because he hasn't been this thin since he came here at 1 year old..

Griffin has 2 15 minute walks a day and he has two meals a day about 11 hours apart. He has either chicken or fish, rice or bread and a mix of greens. He has broccoli, brocaline, cauliflower, asparagus and green beans. We have tried peas but that don't suit his blood sugar so we have had to take them out and we rotate the combinations so that he doesn't get bored and we have a magic mix which chops his food up and made my life so much easier because i was hand chopping at first which was such a pain, lol!

[martorso]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

Hahhaah! I´m sure Griffin enjoys that food, and the fact that you try to give him choices so he won´t get bored with it
I´m glad the weight has stabilized, Rocco lost it all like in the course of 2 weeks, then stabilized but took him several months to put the weight back.
Keep us posted on Griffin´s progress!
Btw, regarding the carbs....have your tried quinoa? works like a charm for Rocco. I didn´t even know what it was before he became diabetic....might be a good substitute for the peas.... "With a carbohydrate content of 59.7 percent, quinoa is a high-energy food. Quinoa also has a 4 to 8 percent fat content, most of which is unsaturated -- the "good" fat. In addition to the carbohydrates, which are mainly complex carbohydrates, quinoa contains 5 percent dietary fiber. Consequently, this pseudo-grain has a low-glycemic index, meaning it won't spike your blood sugar" just Google it....

[emz.buckley]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

hi and welcome

yes it can be quite the journey and you got to catch on fairly quickly .the hardest part is there is no routine set in stone that can guarantee quick success

we do know complete glucose curve's done every week to 2 weeks is important in terms of adjusting the dose and to go in fairly small increments making those adjustments . going passed a dose thats needed can lead to big problems possibly low sugar and extend the regulation period . many times you may see higher sugar

another thing is to have a consistent routine same time same amount for just about everything especially during the regulation period and after there could be some flexibility

my jesse is on a partially raw diet and the one thing i am flexible with is jesses raw vegetables . i use a variety of them same amount but different types .all vegetables are grinned down in a food processor .

jesse has spent more time in her life being diabetic than not so basically this is normal for her and it has not changed who she is which is a delightful beagle who enjoys life

Griffin started on the raw diet because that is what his breeder had all her dogs on but it was changed because one of our other dogs, Madison, had such a sensitive stomach that we had to take that diet out because if the other two had it, he would want to eat it. So we have been fortunate that he has gone back to that diet pretty quickly and adapted to it very well. The only thing that is annoying him is that he used to have the odd treat, he got ones from us when we were eating and now he can't so he isn't that happy about that, lol! He is getting better with it, we still get glared at but he is better, especially now he has more carbs in his diet.It makes us feel terrible because we have to be so strict but he has done so well in 5 weeks that we don't care, lol!

[emz.buckley]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

Ok,

So the update is...

He went to the vets on Monday because of his blip last week, his blood sugar went up and so did the keytones in his urine but we figured out that it was because of the lack of carbs and once we put them back in, his blood sugar went down and his urine went back to normal. But the vet wanted to check him out anyway and we wanted him weighed so it was a win win.

He hasn't lost that much more weight. He is at 7.9 down from 8.2 so she thinks he is stabilising and anywhere around the 8 mark is good for him so that is good. She took a blood test just to check his liver and see if he had the right glucose.

The tests came back Tuesday. His chloesterole has dropped significantly, it was 18 and its now at 8, it needs to be 6 but for 5 weeks she was very impressed with that. His liver is good and bad. One of the enzymes has gone down a bit but the other two have risen a little bit so it is showing some signs of recovery but not as quickly as she would like so she has given him a booster shot to boost the liver and give the kidneys a kick as well but we are taking the positives from this... it has only been 5 weeks so it may take the liver a bit longer to stabilise because we don't know how long he has had it so its a little hard to tell how long it will take for the liver to relax.

My question is, with the liver, how long does it take to see some signs of recovery in the liver? Is this something we are going to have to deal with for the rest of his life as well? I just need some advice about this because we are fighting so hard to stabilise him and when the tests results came back like that, we are just concerned that they weren't as good as we hoped. We are very willing to do these booster shots, every 6 weeks for the rest of his life if it helps but is there any advice on this we would greatly receive it. We are happy with 50/50 on the liver just as long as he is healthy.

He has to go back in 3-4 weeks so that she can see what it is doing and adjust the dose if needed.

[Raysaint]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

My vet gave him a dog supplement with milk thistle in it.

[emz.buckley]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

My vet gave him a dog supplement with milk thistle in it.

We are going to suggest it once we get the results back from the jab he had in about 3 weeks...

Quick question, rice, do I cook it or does it have to be raw? Because I have been cooking it but I have seen that some people said it has to be raw so I just want to check which one it should be?

[Raysaint]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

I've never heard of eating raw rice. Pretty sure it should be cooked to be digestible.
I give my dog organic brown rice, because of it's fiber.

[Scooterspal]

Re: Griffin... New to this and stressed out...

You might want to try old fashion (Quaker) oats, if available where you live. Scooter started on this many years ago for his IBD. I mix a full tablespoon, right out of the container, in each meal. Looks just like cookie dough when I'm done. Same consistency.

It's fantastic for digestion plus high in fiber. It's also low glycemic so easy on his BC levels.

He loves it and cleans the bowl. Cannot be any easier on me, what with no cooking and no waste.

Just a thought.