K9Diabetes in Australia

[rustyangel]

Hi I have been reading some of the posts in the last few days and I have to admit I am so overwhelmed with all the information. Unfortunately this are done a little different here, my boy Cosmo is 13 yrs old and was diagnosed about 8/9 weeks ago.
We have had a lot of problems getting his blood glucose to an acceptable level, and not quite there yet.
10 days ago he started to bump into things and find his treats and of course he has cataracts, they are not covering his eyes completely yet.
We have decided not to have them removed surgically, because Cosmo has many health issues and even though he is 13 im sure his body is feeling much older.
We know he has liver and kidney damage from medication he has to take for Epilepsy, he was 18 months when diagnosed,and it's more than likely he has Cushing's Disease.
At this time we are just trying to regulate him and see what happens from there, so I would love to hear from anyone, but if there is anyone from Australia willing to comment...I would be grateful

[farrwf]

Welcome to the best place on the planet for doggy diabetes information and support.

Could you provide some information about Cosmo?

• type of insulin used
• insulin dosage
• Cosmo's weight
• any curve or blood glucose testing results
• type of food he's getting

There are several members from Australia and New Zealand. I'm sure your thread title will get their attention.

[Rubytuesday]

Welcome! I also have a 13 yr old with diabetes, megaesophagus and EPI. I can tell you my experience is that the unregulated diabetes can take a huge toll on the dog as well as mimic Cushings. Now that we are seeing better days over here people don't guess that Ruby has so much going on.

On this site there are some foundational principles that aren't often taught or even practiced in a lot of vets offices. I would recommend home testing for anyone, but especially for someone struggling with regulation. All you need is a human blood glucose meter to get you started.

Once you start applying the basic principles I think the way will become clearer.

Ruby is also blind and we have found the book "Living with Blind Dogs" very valuable. It would help Cosmo if you could put some of those tips in place now while he still has some vision left. My house has the traffic areas marked with runners and I wear an ankle bracelet with bells on it. You want to be sure to put a barrier up at the stairs and a rug to mark the beginning and end of the stairs helps too.

[Cebe]

Welcome! I'm not from Australia, but I know an Australian. Does that count? .

Unfortunately, I appear to only have a straight up diabetic who is currently licking her foot off. So I don't have experience with Cushings or other issues. But i wonder if the order of things in your post is a bit backwards? Doesn't Cushings make controlling diabetes difficult? So wouldn't you want to try to confirm Cushings and get it under control first?

Take a look at Decker's thread. Also, there is a K9 Cushings forum just like this one, and there may be some good info there.

In the meantime, the info about weight, insulin, dose, etc will be helpful.

[rustyangel]

Cosmo is 8.3 kgs, he is on 0.07 protaphane, at the moment he is taking wd dry and wet food and sometimes, homecooked vegetables, minced meat ( turkey,veal) and cottage cheese, and occassionally sardines. knowing an Australian does count, we are a different breed by all accounts

[rustyangel]

he spent day at vet clinic yesterday, his blood glucose in low 20's, he s on Protaphane insulin at moment

[Patty]

So I don't have experience with Cushings or other issues. But i wonder if the order of things in your post is a bit backwards? Doesn't Cushings make controlling diabetes difficult? So wouldn't you want to try to confirm Cushings and get it under control first?

Welcome to you and Cosmo!
I only have a minute right now but wanted to say that it can actually be difficult to diagnose Cushings in the presence of diabetes, so working on the diabetes first is the right step. Cushings is a slowly progressing disease and the medications are not to be taken lightly. I'd see if you can regulate first as you are doing.

Glad you're starting on protaphane.

Patty

[jesse girl]

my jesse has epilepsy also had it all her life maybe a seizure once a month

we decided not to treat and live with it

jesses epilepsy can affect her numbers quite dramatically

with other challenges regulation can be a bit more difficult but not impossible jesse does fairly well considering her challenges this could not have been done without home testing do to her challenges

so the biggest thing you can do for your pup is start testing blood sugar at home this will keep him safe and help with getting control over the diabetes that is acceptable it may not be perfect but dogs can tolerate blood sugar at a higher level

welcome to both of you it does take some time to find the wright combination and balance

[momofdecker]

Hello and welcome to you!

Yes, my Decker is what would be considered a brittle diabetic dog. Over eight months we've been unable to regulate him. His bg runs 400-600 most times. While most folks on here cringe when they see 300 range numbers, I'm jumping for joy to see numbers under 400.

Have to call our vets today to schedule an appt. for him next week. Getting ready to spend some of our roof fund on a bunch of testing to see if there is an underlying condition that has prohibited him from obtaining regulation range numbers. Full blood panel. Fasting triglycerides test (he has documented high cholesterol). Urine test. Pancreatitis test. Looking into sending out a thyroid test to Dr. Dodds for evaluation. One test we will NOT be doing is the cushings test. We will run a UCCR test to try to rule OUT cushings. If it does not rule out cushings we'll wait to see what the other test results determine and go from there. My understanding is that cushings testing is very expensive and difficult to obtain an accurate diagnosis on. Not sure we will ever go down that road.

My best advice is to make sure your vet focuses on the whole dog - not just the diabetes. If you are struggling to regulate there are many things that could be causing the struggle.

Simple answers may be you have not hit the right insulin dose. Food/insulin are not well balanced. There is an infection such as a UTI present that may be causing blood glucose (bg) to remain raised. Antibiotics or other meds may also cause a raise in bg. Stess is another factor that can raise bg. Seems to be a mixed philosophy on exercise. For many dogs exercise can lower bg. For those with elevated bg, at times exercise may further complicate the issue.

Concurrent medical conditions can be the more complicated answer.

Below is a link that I find very helpful.
http://diabetesindogs.wikia.com/wiki...n_difficulties


Best of luck to you on this new journey!
Holli

[CarolW]

Originally Posted by rustyangel

Cosmo is 8.3 kgs, he is on 0.07 protaphane, at the moment he is taking wd dry and wet food and sometimes, homecooked vegetables, minced meat ( turkey,veal) and cottage cheese, and occassionally sardines. knowing an Australian does count, we are a different breed by all accounts

That's slightly under Kumbi's weight. (Kumbi died - but of cancer,not diabetes). Protaphane sounds as though it may be an NPH insulin.

My understanding is that focusing on the DIABETES, rather than Cushings, first, works best in principle. Oh, well; I see Patty has mentioned this!

Glad you're here!

Fri, 8 Jun 2012 06:41:38 (PDT)