Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

[jesse girl]

Re: Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

ok so no active insulin .

[CraigM]

Re: Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

Hi Craig - the insulin diluting medium we use is for NovoRapid (insulin aspart) and Levemir (insulin determir) made by Novo Nordisk. (International Co) produced in Denmark.

Abby often eats half her food and then we give her the insulin injection.
Is this OK ? How long should we wait for her to eat it ? Is this overdosing
insulin ? Is it better to be 'over'dosed than 'under' ?

Colleen,
Sounds like you know what you are doing, it's just that we have never run across anyone who dilutes their insulin. Do you mix before each injection, or do you mix a larger quantity to use over several days? Do you do the mixing yourself, or is it done by a chemist / lab? Just trying to educate myself.

As mentioned by others, you should give a full insulin dosage only if Abbey eats a full meal. The timing can vary a little: some inject while the pup eats. (Knowing they will finish the meal). some delay the injection for a few minutes in case the pup vomits soon after eating ( probably no longer than 30 minutes), and very few (me) will inject a few minutes before they eat. Most won't do the early injection because it could be a problem if the pup refuses to eat - can't remove the insulin once injected. I don't have this worry because Annie eats anything and everything!

Craig

[Colleen]

Re: Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

We mix 100ml of insulin with 200ml dilutent in a separate vial and refrigerate. We draw from there.
Another thing tonight, we noticed Abby drank water for a full 45 seconds on the trot.
Is this something to worry about ?

[Colleen]

Re: Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

Many thanks for all advice received so far. Neil is actually a dog trainer in, obedience, tracking and protection (IPO). He has had Bouviers for 40 years, so it was quite a surprise
When our only little dog was diagnosed with diabetes. In fact, it is chaos here when it is injection time...we have been watching movies on YouTube to learn the best ways of injecting Abby, as every time we do it Abby cries and yelps and it is so hard finding skin on her thin body! But we are very happy to be on this site and we are learning a lot.

[CraigM]

Re: Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

We mix 100ml of insulin with 200ml dilutent in a separate vial and refrigerate. We draw from there.
Another thing tonight, we noticed Abby drank water for a full 45 seconds on the trot.
Is this something to worry about ?

Thanks for the info. This might be helpful for other tiny dogs on the forum. We certainly learn from each other!

Heavy drinking is a common sign of high blood glucose. You would think this would mean an insulin increase is needed, and probably does, but we can't be 100% sure. There is a slight possibility that Abby had too much insulin, causing low blood sugar, and the body has a mechanism that can release stored glucose to counter the low blood glucose. When this happens (not frequent, but can happen) the blood glucose can be sent very high. See how much fun this can be?

About the only way to know what to do is to have blood glucose tests done. There are several types of blood testing that can be done, but probably the best test is also the least expensive! Home blood testing with a hand held meter. In the States, standard blood glucose meters can be bought online typically from $10-$30, but usually MUCH more expensive at local stores. Don't know about in ZA, but sometimes we see free offers on TV for meters - the manufactures are willing to give away their meters because they will make their money on the test strips that we use everyday. Some vets discourage home testing for various reasons (loss of their income???), but there isn't any law that prevents you from testing your pup.

You are probably thinking that you could NEVER test Abby: you would be surprised! Most of us felt the same way, but after just a short time have been able to train both our pup, and ourselves to do it. If Annie hears me messing with her testing equipment, she will come to me because she knows there will be a little treat (frozen vegetable) and a few moments of ball playing after her test. Here's a link to the AlphaTrak meter. It's a meter designed for dogs & cats, and might be too expensive, but the general info and videos are very good. Normal human meters can be nearly as good. http://www.alphatrakmeter.com/alphatrak-discount.html

In case you weren't aware, there are two measurements for blood glucose. In the States glucose is measured in mg/dL. The rest of the universe uses mmol/L. No problems, most forum members convert the numbers back-and-forth as needed. I mention this because I'm thinking most youtube videos will show readings in mg/dL and didn't want you to get confused.

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

We mix 100ml of insulin with 200ml dilutent in a separate vial and refrigerate. We draw from there.

Yikes, I just re-read that you mix up 300ml at a time? How long do you use this before you replace? We typically toss out our 10ml vial, half used, after 6 weeks. I would think, but have no proof, that a diluted insulin would degrade even quicker? Again, just trying to educate myself

Craig

[Colleen]

Re: Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

You are right, Neil gave me wrong info. The vial is 3ml, we mix 2ml dilutent and 1 ml
Insulin.

[CraigM]

Re: Newly diagnosed 1 yr old Maltese

You are right, Neil gave me wrong info. The vial is 3ml, we mix 2ml dilutent and 1 ml
Insulin.

That sounds better!