Yellow lab newly diagnosed

[yellowlabmom]

Our beloved yellow lab, Sunny, was just diagnosed as diabetic 11/8/14. They are having trouble regulating him and getting a good insulin amount to keep him normal. Right now we are at 26u twice a day and he is still running in the 300's. How long does it normally take to get a good insulin amount to keep a dog normal? We are going out of town next week for Thanksgiving and I am really worried about leaving him.

[jesse girl]

Re: Yellow lab newly diagnosed

hi and welcome some dogs can take up to 6 months or longer to get regulation that everyone is comfortable with

words like normal may not apply to a diabetic dogs blood sugar. for many they will never really come close to what looks like normal blood. many are quite satisfied with blood sugar from 150 to 250 maybe a bit higher or lower and dogs do just fine at those levels for the day

so actually its been less than a month and your seeing 300s i would say thats pretty good . for me stable blood sugar is very important. i consider blood sugar stable when the spread from high to low for the day of blood sugar is a 100 points or less . my jesse at the beginning went from 500 to 70 . yes its good to see lower numbers but the big swings puts the dog at risk to a hypoglycemic event

testing blood sugar at home may expedite the process but the most important thing it keeps the pup safe from low blood sugar to catch a problem before it becomes a problem

[k9diabetes]

Re: Yellow lab newly diagnosed

Oh goodness, that was just 10 days ago! It is actually quite early to have arrived at the right dose because it's always best to start with less insulin than you think they will need and raise the dose slowly with careful monitoring to work UP to the right dose and avoid bypassing it and experiencing dangerous low blood sugar.

How much does Sunny weigh?

Have you done a blood glucose curve so you know the full range of her blood sugar?

Dogs don't read the book and so don't necessarily have lowest blood sugar at the time the book says they will. Some dogs, for example, have "mountain" curves - lowest blood sugar at meal time and highest blood sugar in between food and insulin.

If you dog's blood sugar is in the 200s to 300s, she should be just fine while you are away. I actually wouldn't want her blood sugar very tightly controlled if she is being kenneled or cared for by someone who doesn't test her blood sugar. Better to sit in that range while you are gone and then work for tighter regulation after you get back.

Dogs tolerate high blood sugar MUCH better than humans do. I've seen dogs whose blood sugar never got below 200 who lived long healthy happy lives. They not only tolerate blood sugar at much higher levels than people but do not suffer the side effects that people with diabetes do. Neuropathy is very rare and usually occurs only in dogs with some other nerve impairment. You don't have liver and kidney failure and amputations... none of that. The most common side effect is cataracts - those are quite common.

Also, I have seen a number of yellow labs who needed relatively large doses of insulin and who were not very sensitive to it - sometimes a 2 unit increase made only a minor change in their blood sugar. So she may wind up needing a relatively high dose of insulin.

That's why I'm curious how much she weighs - would like to see where her dose is at now relative to her weight.

Natalie

[Charlie's mom]

Re: Yellow lab newly diagnosed

Welcome to the forum! You have just started a journey, not an overnight trip, but there's a great group of folks here to help!
We are 13 months into our journey and really feel that we just 'sorta kinda' have Charlie under control. He started at 2 units of Novalin and is to 16.5 now.

[chucksmom]

Re: Yellow lab newly diagnosed

Hello and welcome!
I agree with the others, slow and steady. Your boy Sunny is very early in diagnoses. Chuck my 122 lb Rottie was diagnosed in September, and is still not regulated. Not trying to discourage you, just wanted to let you know that arriving at the perfect amount of insulin, is rarely done quickly.

Chucks blood sugars still jump up into the HIGH 400's, and I have no clue why. Nothing has changed since the low of 238 he had yesterday, well, nothing external that I can control. I think that is the hardest part, we do everything exactly as we always have, and something causes an extreme high or low.

I think it just takes time for them to regulate.

The folks here are amazing, lots of advice and support. It's always good to know you are not alone in this struggle.

I'll be thinking of you and Sunny, and praying for a good regulation, sooner, rather than later