Grand Lady Snickers passes away April 21, 2019

[LizE]

Snickers, a Skye Terrier mix, was part of a litter of puppies that was left at a shelter in the early winter of 2000 when they were only several weeks old. Shy and reserved she wouldn't even bark for the first month or so. Eventually her true terrier colors emerged and she grew into a beautiful dog.

Fast forward 15 years. She is doing pretty well for her age with some loss of hearing and vision (not cataracts). She tore her acl in 2010 and that slowed her down a little but not too bad. She walks everyday no matter what the weather.

Then in November 2015 she got a uti. She didn't completely recover from that and that's when she got very sick very fast and was diagnosed with diabetes in early December. Her numbers (pretty much everything they tested) were very bad and the vet felt the only way she might recover would be with round the clock care. Unfortunately my vet and does not do overnight supervision so we would have had to go to an emergency clinic for proper care.

He warned us about the costs to treat her and honestly felt that at her age, there was probably another underlying problem, like cancer, that was not diagnosed and we could spend a lot of money and still lose her.

We opted to treat Snickers on an outpatient basis, and honestly I was just hoping to keep her alive long enough for my son to finish his finals and make it home to say goodbye to her. She was vomiting, not eating, had lost a lot of weight and was leaking urine at night. Needless to say there were lots of tears, lots of prayers.

Well, Snickers fooled us all and has recovered quite nicely, with no small thanks to this forum. It's not totally smooth sailing but after a bumpy start her numbers are settling down and we have gone almost a month without another uti.

One of our biggest challenges is getting Snickers to eat, especially on a schedule, especially in the morning. We were given an appetite stimulant to use but I only like to give it to her when she won't eat, not as a default, partly to monitor how she is feeling.

Snickers is currently about 35 lbs, takes 11 units of Novolin N twice a day, and uses a Reli On human meter for testing. I used to feed her a rotation of grain free food (I would change food often as she becomes bored with her food and changing brands did not seem to cause her any distress) but now I suspect those that contain potatoes cause her problems so I'm down to only to varieties at this point - one from Earthborn and one from Natural Balance. She also gets a glucosamine treat, a collagen pill and d-mannose.

Again, I can't stress enough how helpful everyone here has been and how often I've used the links to videos (bg testing here's looking at you). At 15, Snickers has a limited time left and making everything as painless and stress free as possible can only enhance her quality of life. Thank you so much for everything!

[CraigM]

Welcome to the forum! I copied your post from the biography into a fresh thread just for you and Snickers. You seem to be doing great!

Craig

[k9diabetes]

What a lovely first post!!! And I'm glad you put it in the Stories section as it's a great testament to these dogs' ability to persevere and defy the odds and predictions.

For whatever reason, a lot of dogs don't like to eat in the morning. If it is just too much of a pain to manage, you can give insulin using a different regimen where she would get a small dose of insulin and no food at breakfast - 1/4-1/2 or so of the normal dose - and then a large dose and her full day's calories at dinner time - probably more than she now gets at dinner because she would eat more food at that meal.

Since you're home testing you can work on something like this.

Or, you can offer her breakfast and if she eats give insulin as normal and if she doesn't, give her a small dose.

Only about 1/2 of the insulin given goes to the meal. The rest maintains their basal blood sugar level. So they can have some insulin with no food on board.

Natalie

[LizE]

Natalie,

Thanks for the response. Friday morning she wouldn't eat anything, even people food so I opted not to give her any insulin. She was at 141 (unadjusted Relion #) and I wasn't going to be around to watch her.

Three hours later she was at 208 so not the end of the world. I gave her 1/4 cup of food but no insulin because I was afraid of it overlapping with her next dose and again, I wasn't going to be around again for several hours after her evening meal and dose.

Glad to know about the basal blood sugar requirements. I was too afraid to dose her and my vet recommended erring on the high side.

Liz

[jesse girl]

my jesse is a dog that only gets one meal a day and a small snack

so there are options if its just going to be a fight for the long haul

probably wouldn't get a vet to buy into something like this and would work but it has for jesse 6 years later and doing well

the key to this disease is consistency in the routine you are doing . jesse routine is consistent

[k9diabetes]

You usually want to start conservatively - maybe 1/4 of the usual dose. See how that goes and raise it if need be. Our dog could take about half his usual dose without insulin.

Natalie

[farrwf]

Great introduction. Welcome to the best place in the known universe for doggy diabetes information, advice & fellowship!

Looking forward to following Snickers' journey for years to come.

[amydunn19]

My dog can't eat potatoes or rice either. She likes the taste but those ingredients don't like her.

Nutrisca is a brand you might try with no potato or rice. Dogs seem to like it. I usually don't push brands but finding something with no potato or rice is tough because most can be very high protein.

Is it possible the food was bad? Does it smell funny?

[LizE]

Originally Posted by amydunn19

My dog can't eat potatoes or rice either. She likes the taste but those ingredients don't like her.

Nutrisca is a brand you might try with no potato or rice. Dogs seem to like it. I usually don't push brands but finding something with no potato or rice is tough because most can be very high protein.

Is it possible the food was bad? Does it smell funny?

I think the food was ok. I'm not even sure that's what caused Snickers to get sick but she wasn't that excited about the food either so I think I will just return it.

I'm thinking about trying Nutrisca but I can't buy it locally so I would have to order it. I usually try to get things locally so I don't have to plan ahead and order or be worried that something will arrive on time. But I really want to be able to rotate food so I think I will give it a try.

[amydunn19]

I rotate the flavors of Nutrisca - chicken, lamb and salmon. If you do try Nutrisca, I will tell you that we went from 5 units of insulin down to 2.5 units. Are you testing blood sugar? If not, I would. Low glycemic food can be tricky and it doesn't work for everyone. It can cause lows - maggie gets 4 meals (things like frozen yogurt(yoghund) and a carby bones or freeze dried meats). Low glycemic food can need what I call propping up to have staying power but it could just be her.