Tweet
Re: New- Cujo, the anomaly
I don't think it's fair to make this kind of blanket statement.
My approach to diabetes is that there are NO bad insulins. Every dog is different and what worked for Mildred may not work at all for another dog and vice versa.
In some cases Regular is too fast acting for a dog to handle, let alone Humalog - both can plunge the blood sugar of a dog who metabolizes them quickly and Humalog has more potential to do this than Regular.
Chris, using Regular alone, used up the vast majority of Regular insulin in 6 hours - he received an injection every six hours. His lowest blood sugar was typically at 4 hours.
There are folks out there who disdain Regular because of unpredictability based on its use with people. We did not find this to be the case at all. So, again, every dog is different. Besides, Regular is usually used somewhat differently in dogs. It's not typically used as a bolus insulin, more to create a flexible version of a lente insulin since 30% faster acting insulin can be too much but less is helpful.
Finally, Humalog is extremely expensive and that has to be taken into consideration in many cases.
I want to be especially clear here that I view using any correcting insulin as a more advanced technique and has to be considered very very carefully before attempting it. It requires a good working knowledge of how your dog already processes food and an intermediate insulin. and I would always want to explore the cause of unusual spikes before just making them go away with a little faster acting insulin.
I don't think Cujo is ready for this.
But I did want to note that corrections that had been made with NPH given between regular injections had even more potential for overlap than if Regular was used. Cujo had been getting "correcting" insulin at about 6 hours AFTER his regular injection, which is very different from a meal bolus.
So my advice for Cujo is to not give any faster acting insulin at this point... it's just something to consider if, over time, it looks like he's going to spike sometimes for no identifiable reason.
Natalie
Having used both R and now Humalog I would never suggest the use of R to anyone.
My approach to diabetes is that there are NO bad insulins. Every dog is different and what worked for Mildred may not work at all for another dog and vice versa.
In some cases Regular is too fast acting for a dog to handle, let alone Humalog - both can plunge the blood sugar of a dog who metabolizes them quickly and Humalog has more potential to do this than Regular.
Chris, using Regular alone, used up the vast majority of Regular insulin in 6 hours - he received an injection every six hours. His lowest blood sugar was typically at 4 hours.
I found the R to be inconsistent and unpredictable, sometimes lingering for 7-9 hours.
Finally, Humalog is extremely expensive and that has to be taken into consideration in many cases.
I want to be especially clear here that I view using any correcting insulin as a more advanced technique and has to be considered very very carefully before attempting it. It requires a good working knowledge of how your dog already processes food and an intermediate insulin. and I would always want to explore the cause of unusual spikes before just making them go away with a little faster acting insulin.
I don't think Cujo is ready for this.
But I did want to note that corrections that had been made with NPH given between regular injections had even more potential for overlap than if Regular was used. Cujo had been getting "correcting" insulin at about 6 hours AFTER his regular injection, which is very different from a meal bolus.
So my advice for Cujo is to not give any faster acting insulin at this point... it's just something to consider if, over time, it looks like he's going to spike sometimes for no identifiable reason.
Natalie
Comment