Blind guide dog with uncontrolled diabetes... Help!

[jeanie]

I have a diabetic blind dog..the horrible irony is he was a former guidedog who is him self now blind..I recently got him an operation to remove his cataract approx one month ago..he has still not regained his sight...his diabetes is not been able to be brought under control ...he is also . Losing an awful lot of weight...he is currently on 22 no of caninsulin twice a day and being fed on James wellbeloved ..can anyone give me some advice on getting his diabetes under control?

[CraigM]

Re: blind guidedog with uncontrolled diabetes...help!

Sorry to hear about your pup, but glad you found us. Tell us more about him: breed, weight, any other medical conditions / medications? Do you have some blood glucose numbers you can post? Are you feeding 12 hours apart and refraining from between meal treats / snacks? Home blood testing, or thinking about home testing?

Consistency is very important. Most do best with 2 identical meals a day (yes, there are exceptions; but these dogs have usually been treated for months / years) because food and insulin need to work together. The trick is to find the correct dose of insulin to match the food eaten. If extra food is given, either by varying the quantity / quality of the meals, or by between meal snacks it will be difficult to gain control. Quantity is so important to my Annie that I use a kitchen food scale to weigh her food, measuring cups just weren't repeatable enough for her.

Let's see if anyone else has welcomed you yet, and give you a chance to answer some of the questions.

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: Blind guide dog with uncontrolled diabetes... Help!

You mentioned weight loss. This is pretty common until you find the correct amount of insulin to go with the diet he is on. Unfortunately, you can't just add more food and have them gain weight. Insulin "delivers" glucose from the food into the body's cells and allows them to gain / maintain weight. Without proper amount of insulin, the glucose that is roaming through the body in their blood can't be utilized and is mostly expelled in their urine. Have you noticed he is drinking more, and peeing lots of sticky pee? Unfortunately, you can't just add more-and-more insulin because too much insulin can lead to hypoglycemia which can be very dangerous, even life threatening. Most on the forum home blood test.

Craig

[Patty]

Re: Blind guide dog with uncontrolled diabetes... Help!

Jeanie, just wanted to add my welcome to you!

Craig's questions will help us better help you and your pup. Do you home test his blood sugar or does the vet do curves?

Glad to have you here!
Patty

[k9diabetes]

Re: Blind guide dog with uncontrolled diabetes... Help!

Hi Jeanie,

Sorry to hear that your dog's vision was not restored - has the vet or ophthalmologist said why that has not happened?

Please tell us as much as you can about your dog - history of dosing, insulin and food schedule and quantities, diet changes, insulin changes, the results of curves and other tests your dog has had done.... you can email stuff to me at k9diabetes@gmail.com if that's easier.

Don't be shy. The best way we can help you is to know as much as possible.

Any other concurrent health conditions?

Natalie

[amydunn19]

Re: Blind guide dog with uncontrolled diabetes... Help!

Welcome! My dog Maggie had cataract surgery- she had lens removal and it restored her vision. I would be interested to know what the opthalmologist says about why the vision didn't return. Most dogs do adapt to blindness much easier than you would think. Maggie was 7 when she went blind - if she had been older, I probably would have not opted for surgery.

You are in a good place- lots of experienced diabetes people here who can share some insight with you. The weight loss can be alarming but once you get that insulin working and some good blood sugar happening, the weight should stabilize.

Do you check blood glucose at home?

[Rubytuesday]

Re: Blind guide dog with uncontrolled diabetes... Help!

Hello and welcome.

So sorry for the blindness, my girl is also blind. There is a good book "Living with Blind Dogs" that helped us a lot.

Along with others, I look forward to more details about your dog so we can better help. With this disease it is all about the numbers and details.

Tara