Diabetes, Cushings and Pancreatitis in my Dog

[YukiesMom]

Ok makes sense. I was informed today that I will need to give the shots this weekend my husband is going out of town. I am so scared, I only did a test shot at the vet 4 months ago. My husband has been givin the shots and Ihave been testing the blood.

We both do the shots with me talking to him and looking him in the face.

Does anybody have any advice on giving the shot on my own and I am scared. I am definitely going to give it before his food. I just keep thinking about it and stressing out ☹️

[jesse girl]

You might want to think twice about giving a shot before meal because if your dog does not want to eat you cant take that dose of insulin back .

Your dog is already use to shots so i think you maybe getting all worked for nothing . Do some practice before your husband leaves and work up some confidence . The thing with shots you have no choice and i think the dogs understand that also . I know my jesse does .

[YukiesMom]

I know. He's just my baby so I don't want to hurt him. I have been pulling his skin the last week in a tent for him to get used to it. I don't want to practice in front of my husband because I am even more nervous.

Should I do it 1/2 way between meals?

[jesse girl]

Most give insulin after meal . Some wait 15 minutes to see if food will stay down . i give my jesse her shot while she is eating

Jesses original vet thought i was cruel testing jesse on her inner lip . For me keeping jesse safe was more important than any discomfort and come to find out there wasn't any and she gives me a kiss after her test saying thank you for caring for me

You have to get out of the mindset that you are harming your dog you are caring for them and giving them the opportunity to have a happy dogs life

Dogs in the end like structure and routine and that is what makes them happy

[Raysaint]

Give the insulin soon after she eats. Do not change the injection time, as that will totally change the curve and blood sugar pattern.
Consistency is of utmost importance in diabetes.

As for giving injections, it is so easy. Just pull the skin up a bit, jab in quickly, straight down into the tent, inject slowly.
A lot of instructional demos say use a specific angle and inject in a certain spot on the tent, etc. To me, there's more risk of the needle poking thru and out the other side.

[YukiesMom]

Yukon's BG has been in the 500-600's the past couple days. The only thing that has changed is I opened a new bag of dog food.

Could that cause a spike in BG? And if so will it eventually level out? What should I do?

[jesse girl]

Food for jesse hasn't made a big impact as far as changing some of her homemade ingredients . I dont have much experience with commercial diets since jesse has became diabetic but i would not think that you would see a big difference from one bag of food to another that is the same brand . I guess you could check if they did a ingredient change maybe contacting the manufacturer or compare from previous bag

[Raysaint]

If the food is identical brand and formula, it shouldn't change sugar numbers significantly. If her sugars haven't been in the 500-600 range, then they should level out.

My dog has high days for no apparent reason. Their bodies aren't a machine. Metabolism is a very individual thing, and a very unpredictable and changing thing in many people, and dogs apparently.

[YukiesMom]

Hi everyone so I have been giving Yukon his insulin injections the last six days and things have been going really well. I noticed last Friday and Saturday his blood glucose was in the high 500s. The bottle of Vetsulin is a little less than half full so I decided to open a new bottle and mix the old with the new.

The next few days his blood glucose was doing much better in the 200s and 300s at peak which is good for Yukon.

He was in a great mood today all day and I brought him home and gave him his normal meal and insulin shot and right after we go for our normal walk, in which he wanted to go longer than what we usually do. I took his blood at 8:15 and his blood glucose was 621. That was about two hours after his food and insulin.

Why is this happening and what do I need to do? How can a dog be acting wonderful until the evening shot and food?
.

[jesse girl]

Originally Posted by YukiesMom

Hi everyone so I have been giving Yukon his insulin injections the last six days and things have been going really well. I noticed last Friday and Saturday his blood glucose was in the high 500s. The bottle of Vetsulin is a little less than half full so I decided to open a new bottle and mix the old with the new.

The next few days his blood glucose was doing much better in the 200s and 300s at peak which is good for Yukon.

He was in a great mood today all day and I brought him home and gave him his normal meal and insulin shot and right after we go for our normal walk, in which he wanted to go longer than what we usually do. I took his blood at 8:15 and his blood glucose was 621. That was about two hours after his food and insulin.

Why is this happening and what do I need to do? How can a dog be acting wonderful until the evening shot and food?
.

Its hard to say walks can lower sugar but sometimes they can raise sugar if insulin is running out . Its also the extra long walk could have created low sugar and you may have seen rebound off those lower numbers . A change in routine even small can have an impact but its all just speculation

Glad yule is feeling like having fun and shows things are getting better