Tweet
Hello everyone 
My name is Kathy. I have a 7 (almost 8) year old Weimaraner named Kai. He has always been pretty healthy until this past year. We moved from VA to FL and he has seemed a little off. I figured it was the move and him getting older but recently I discovered more. About 8 months ago he started drinking from the toilet. Something he had never done before. OK so its hotter here and maybe the water was cooler. Then the past few months he started waking up a few times a night to go out. So he's getting older and losing some control. He also started to take more time to stand up, Arthritis..maybe. Well last Wednesday our life changed. I have had the gut feeling something was just not right. Then Tuesday night Kai was drinking and peeing like crazy. He went out and then came right back in and peed on the carpet right in front of me. He is very good and has not had an accident since he was a pup. It was very clear, obviously diluted. So first thing in the a.m. I called the vet and got him in. They took lots of blood work and said they would call in the a.m. He had also lost a bit of weight. He was down to 81lbs. His high was 106 but that was overweight as my kids started eating people food. He was a healthy 90lbs just last Sept. So I get the call...Kai is very diabetic. His glucose number was 559! However all of his liver enzymes were elevated. They were worried about Liver cancer. I fell apart. Here my healthy dog was all of a sudden very very sick. Well Memorial weekend and we could not have the ultrasound of his liver until This Wed. That’s 1 week. The vet said to maybe wait for the u/s to see if it was cancer before starting insulin. I know nothing about this and said OK. Well later in the day (still Thurs just received results) Kai started acting more weird and I could tell he did not feel good. Then all of a sudden he was walking weird. His nails on his back feet were pointing straight out. Like he was walking on the back of his paw. I called the vet and said I wanted to start him on the insulin right away. If it makes him feel any better before the u/s than its worth it. We drove right in and she looked at his paw. She said it looks like diabetic neuropathy. Looking concerned she gave us the vetsulin and showed us what to do and look out for. Then to continue my stress the next day I see blood on the carpet. I looked at his other back paw and it is swollen and has 2 spots if I squeeze blood comes out. The vet was worried snake bite. OMG I am about to pass out. Turns out it is an abscess and he was put on antibiotics which have cleared it up perfectly. Well 3 days later he is a new dog. He is barking at "every" car that drives by again.
Still drinking and peeing but not nearly as much. Then yesterday was his u/s...great news!! No cancer!! He has vasculars (sp?) on his liver that were most likely caused by the diabetes. She said he should be fine now with controlled diabetes and a holistic idea would be some milk thistle to help the liver repair. (I had already bought some ) So here I went from thinking my poor sweet boy was dying to a ..I can deal with diabetes attitude. I mean over cancer?! Thank God!
Now to help the back paw heal which I have heard can happen with the neuropathy when glucose is controlled. He actually already sometimes puts the toes back correctly while walking. Just not all the time. He is also on pain killers as needed for his arthritis. None today as he seems pretty normal to me! Woohoo!!
He is on Vetsulin 1x a day right now. He takes 30u. In 2 weeks we will go back for glucose testing and possibly adjust his meds.
I look forward to meeting many of you and learning much more about this. How to control and the good and the bad.
My name is Kathy. I have a 7 (almost 8) year old Weimaraner named Kai. He has always been pretty healthy until this past year. We moved from VA to FL and he has seemed a little off. I figured it was the move and him getting older but recently I discovered more. About 8 months ago he started drinking from the toilet. Something he had never done before. OK so its hotter here and maybe the water was cooler. Then the past few months he started waking up a few times a night to go out. So he's getting older and losing some control. He also started to take more time to stand up, Arthritis..maybe. Well last Wednesday our life changed. I have had the gut feeling something was just not right. Then Tuesday night Kai was drinking and peeing like crazy. He went out and then came right back in and peed on the carpet right in front of me. He is very good and has not had an accident since he was a pup. It was very clear, obviously diluted. So first thing in the a.m. I called the vet and got him in. They took lots of blood work and said they would call in the a.m. He had also lost a bit of weight. He was down to 81lbs. His high was 106 but that was overweight as my kids started eating people food. He was a healthy 90lbs just last Sept. So I get the call...Kai is very diabetic. His glucose number was 559! However all of his liver enzymes were elevated. They were worried about Liver cancer. I fell apart. Here my healthy dog was all of a sudden very very sick. Well Memorial weekend and we could not have the ultrasound of his liver until This Wed. That’s 1 week. The vet said to maybe wait for the u/s to see if it was cancer before starting insulin. I know nothing about this and said OK. Well later in the day (still Thurs just received results) Kai started acting more weird and I could tell he did not feel good. Then all of a sudden he was walking weird. His nails on his back feet were pointing straight out. Like he was walking on the back of his paw. I called the vet and said I wanted to start him on the insulin right away. If it makes him feel any better before the u/s than its worth it. We drove right in and she looked at his paw. She said it looks like diabetic neuropathy. Looking concerned she gave us the vetsulin and showed us what to do and look out for. Then to continue my stress the next day I see blood on the carpet. I looked at his other back paw and it is swollen and has 2 spots if I squeeze blood comes out. The vet was worried snake bite. OMG I am about to pass out. Turns out it is an abscess and he was put on antibiotics which have cleared it up perfectly. Well 3 days later he is a new dog. He is barking at "every" car that drives by again.
Still drinking and peeing but not nearly as much. Then yesterday was his u/s...great news!! No cancer!! He has vasculars (sp?) on his liver that were most likely caused by the diabetes. She said he should be fine now with controlled diabetes and a holistic idea would be some milk thistle to help the liver repair. (I had already bought some ) So here I went from thinking my poor sweet boy was dying to a ..I can deal with diabetes attitude. I mean over cancer?! Thank God!Now to help the back paw heal which I have heard can happen with the neuropathy when glucose is controlled. He actually already sometimes puts the toes back correctly while walking. Just not all the time. He is also on pain killers as needed for his arthritis. None today as he seems pretty normal to me! Woohoo!!
He is on Vetsulin 1x a day right now. He takes 30u. In 2 weeks we will go back for glucose testing and possibly adjust his meds.
I look forward to meeting many of you and learning much more about this. How to control and the good and the bad.