Miley's Story

[Cpaura]

She was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago she has not ate on her own since then the vet did an ultrasound and said everything looked okay stomach was inflamed and maybe slight pancreatitis she has been declining ever since I am force-feeding her baby food some days she takes it well Other days she resists I am currently giving her a half a tablet of Pepcid AC to help with the nausea we have days where we throw up all our food she has lost 9 pounds and just lays around and shakes I had her hospitalized for two full nights and she has spent several nights at the vet. Her sugar levels are stable my vet is not open on the weekends so I have her home till Monday if she's not doing well she will stay with the vet again for a few days but her quality-of-life is not good my heart is broken and I don't know what else to do at this point. I have done everything to try to get her to eat on her own she has no interest in food My Vet feels these are symptoms from the pancreatitis I have left her in doctors care at the hospital and the vet where she was regulated and fed intravenously to let the pancreas rest but she will not eat and is frail and has no interest in anything anymore. Any suggestions?

[Charlie's mom]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

My heart goes out to you, we have been blessed and have not had to deal with pancreatitis. The experts will be able to advise you more, but she's just not feeling well so of course doesn't want to eat. I would suggest just little bits of easily digested food.

Can you share with us your baby's name, breed, how much she usually weighs, what kind of insulin has your vet recommended and what dose?

You are not alone!

Laura

[amydunn19]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

Hi, I am sorry your baby is not doing well. Many of us have been in your shoes and recovery is possible so don't lose hope.

Pancreatitis is a tough recovery and can be very slow. You have to give them plenty of time before introducing too much food. It sounds like you already know this. I went through it with my dog several times. She refused all food, especially kibble. I started with boiled chicken and broth(homemade) and gradually tried different things. It seems like Maggie went a couple of weeks with just a little bit of food here and there. Did the vet actually test for pancreatitis? This is important to have an accurate diagnosis and there are medications that can help. Did he prescribe anything? Tramadol, cerenia and in some cases an antibiotic might be prescribed. Cerenia is a great drug. There is an appetite stimulant as well that may help. I will try to look it up for you.

Tell us more about her - her age, weight, diet before all the problems and what food you are trying to feed now, type of insulin and dosage, and any other issues you might know of - like other conditions or history of illnesses. Did the vet give you any blood sugar numbers at any time?

It might be kind of slow on the forum so don't be alarmed if people are slow to answer or reply because of the holiday.

[Cpaura]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

My dogs name is Miley, she is a yorkie-poo, almost 7 years old, and currently weighs 16 lbs. Miley weighed 25 lbs at her regular visit in August. The Dr did not give her any medicine to take home besides her insulant. When we first tried taking her home she wad going to take 3 units twice a day, but because she will not eat we have been adjusting it 1-2 units. Her sugar levels have been ok since starting the insulant. Miley just refuses to eat, she is literally starving herself! She stayed at the vet for 2 days i took her home for a night thinking she would not eat dye to stress, but was worse home. Second time at vey she stayed 3 nights where they administered an antibiotic through an IV. Then stay 48 hours in a animal hospital where they gave her pain meds and feed her through the IV. She has been with me since Monday but yesterday she vomited after meals. Dr said this is a bug set back. X-rays were taken an ultrasound was done they said stomach was Irritated, any showed possible slight pancreatitis. Also ran full blood. She is getting so frail and she shakes all day.

[jesse girl]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

i agree with amy its a slow process with pancreatitis . you want something that's easily digested . maybe a homemade diet. food that is pulverized or pureed can be helpful less fat is helpful and sometimes less fiber which can be contradictory to a diabetic diet .

its a tough situation the pancreas needs time to heal and digestion can put more pressure on the pancreas but they need to eat something . so you want to listen to your pup and how much food they may attempt to eat . i would keep it very small . probably take a couple weeks to see real progress.

i am not sure how your dosing with insulin . are you adjusting the dose for how much food is consumed ? are you giving insulin without food ? you said blood sugar is doing good and that is positive . what kind of levels are you seeing with blood sugar ?

[Monsters Momma]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

Hi and welcome to you and Miley!
Like Laura, we have been blessed since we have not had to deal with pancreatitis. Others on then forum have, so you have found a great place for information and support!

I know things seem bleak right now, but I have seem many pups in Miley's situation recover. Like diabetes, it too is a slow process. I would offer my encouragement to you based on what I've seen others go through.

Are you home testing Miley's sugar (blood glucose) levels? I was wondering if the vet was telling you that she was stable or if you were testing her yourself. If you aren't, it isn't hard to do, once you get up the courage to do the first test! It would certainly help you in determining how much insulin to give especially if she isn't eating much right now. If you decide you want to try, most folks here could tell you how and help you get what you need to test.

Diabetes is a lot to handle and having to deal with pancreatitis on top of that surely would put some over the edge. Just know that we're here to support you and Miley. Welcome again!
Mel

[amydunn19]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

I would ask the vet for cerenia for vomiting - it really helped Maggie. Also, some tramadol might ease some of the pain. Pancreatitis is quite painful and you don't want to eat when you are in terrible pain, so she probably doesn't either. Also, you might want to feed her small amounts several times a day(I personally would feed Maggie when she was hungry and willing to eat during her attacks).

Testing at home is critical - during one of Maggie's flare ups, her original vet wanted her on her full insulin whether she ate or not, which resulted in a hypoglycemic seizure. I knew the vet was wrong but I didn't really know by how much. I changed vets after that and begin to take control of the situation. I started testing and pulled her out of the downward spiral she was on.

[sibhus]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

i went through a bad episode of pancreatitis which resulted in my dog becoming diabetic.

The first thing to do is to get the dog on IV or SQ fluids and let the pancreas heal itself for 2-3 days. My dog took a tad longer and had another minor flare up. During that time, usually cooked chicken is the best thing along with cooked white rice. The fluids are key as they help with nausea and increase their appetite. See if your vet will allow you to get some fluids into her say 400-500ml a day of sodium chloride.

[Cpaura]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

First I would like to thank everyone for their input gave me a lot of hope Miley is having a good day she is alert and even went outside to play as for her eating she refuses to eat I have tried the boiled chicken white rice hamburger meat drained of course and several other table foods that I know she would love. She looks at it and but refuses. I am currently force feeding her baby food twice a day and only a half a jar at a feeding. The Vet has me only giving her 1 unit with this feeding. We were originally going to give 3 units, but due to how little she is eating we had to adjust. I am now giving her a half of 10mg tablet of Pepcid AC to help the naussa. She is not on on other medicine at home the the insulant. Again she spent a total of 5 nights at the Vet where they gave her IV fluids, anitbiotics, and naussa medicine. They did this all Intravenously and did not want to send me home with medicines because they felt the oral medicine will get her sick. She also spent 2 nights in an animal hospital where again the gave her fluids and medicined through an IV. As far as checking her blood I am having that done at Vets office, one of the techs told me it cant be done at home. She is sleeping now, shaking is a lot less today then yesterday. If she would only eat

[jesse girl]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

well it sounds like you have done everything correctly and you just have to give it time . glad your pup is feeling better .thats a positive sign

the vet tech is incorrect. you can test blood sugar at home as a humane diabetic would lots of videos on the site and you tube to get an idea .

[amydunn19]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

You can absolutely test at home. You don't need permission to test. We can help you with that

Small steps. It sounds encouraging that she is wanting to go outside. The cerenia shouldn't make her sick. It was the only thing that helped Maggie.

[Cpaura]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

Really!? I want to get a tester and they said it wouldn't be acurate. I am so getting one. She would not eat again fir me so i had to force feed her once again, but she was Intrigued when we ate dinner tonight she sat by me like she was begging I accidently dropped s purce of food on the floor "oops" and she went sniffed it fir a while then walked away. I also tried to feed her chicken and i put it in her bowl she kept going to it and walked around with a piece in her mouth but she never ate it, she finally dropped it. This was a great start!

[Charlie's mom]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

Lol, love the oops with the people food! It sound like her appetite is slowly coming back, but her tummy may ache too much for her to really want to eat. You may need to have some other oops to see what interests her.

[Cpaura]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

Another morning Miley would not eat, I again force feed.
I had to call Vet this morning to let them know how Miley did over the weekend and I told them her energy is back she is back to some of her normal habits I explained that I did have to force feed but she is taking an interest in food just not there yet. I also asked if I can use a glucose meter to check her levels because I don't think we got them totally under control. She still shakes not as much and it doesn't look like a pain shake more as if she was cold. The Vet again told me the only accurate way to test at home is with urine strips. Also, they didn't seem to impressed with her behavior turn around. I thought we had a positive last two days. I know she is still not eating but her behavior and the fact that she shows an interest in the food is a huge start or am I wishful thinking.

[momofdecker]

Re: My dog was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago

Belated welcome to you and your pup. Here is my personal take on urine testing vs. blood testing. Urine pools - so your pup could be at 400 then drop to 40 - and the average would look like 220 - which on a urine strip might look good. But the wide swings and the low, in reality, are not good.

Blood testing - even with a human meter, may not be 100% accurate, but over time will help you understand patterns and trends. You'll learn how food/insulin interact and how well balanced they are. You'll learn how exercise might impact your pup. You'll learn how stress/excitement, etc.. might impact your pup.

Many pups will show patterns out of the norm when an infection is brewing and the odd blood glucose (bg) readings are often the first signs before anything else presents.

Personally, I'd take learning patterns/trends (even if they are not 100% accurate in terms of bg readings) any day over guessing. For example, say your pup gets food/insulin at 6a and the bg reading is around 200. After running many curves you may learn that the bg will rise till around noon then it will drop till 6p. It doesn't matter if the reading is 200 or 280 - you still know that on the average day your pup is going to rise after eating till around noon. With my boy, we kept an eye on the numbers but our focus was the bigger picture of those daily patterns/trends - understanding those are what helped us keep him safe.

If you are interested in giving home testing a try let us know - there are lots of resources on here and lots of tips folks can offer to get you started.