Hi I am new and thank God you are here

[Rane]

Hi I am also new to this site. My name is Rane and I have a Min Pin that was just diagnosed with diabetes. He gets 4 units of Humulin N twice a day. Before he had to switch to Science Diet R/D, we were feeding him a TSC brand of canned dog food. I don't know what anyone else thinks of it, but we thought it was a fairly high quality canned food for about .99 cent. Any one else think this is an okay brand of dog food?

[Rane]

Hi I am new and thank God you are here

Hi, I am new to the forum, and new to having a diabetic dog. RB is a rescue dog and we got him when he was 6 months old. He is now about 6 years, and three weeks ago today he was diagnosed with diabetes. He has lost about 10 pounds which our vet says is a good thing because he was too fat. (Our fault) We were aware that he was eating too much (Oh he loved his food!) and he bounced and wiggled his way through most days. He has allergies and his former vet put him on some antibiotics, and told us he was too fat, so we put him on a diet. He lost the weight very fast, and started drinking water like crazy. We thought it was the antibiotics until he became very sick. We took him to a 24 hour vet who diagnosed him with diabetes, and put him on 5 units twice a day of humulin N. She also insisted that we put him on Science Diet RD which we did. He gets 3/4 of a can twice a day, and only a couple pieces of boiled chicken breast for treats. Happily, he is thriving, but he is getting cantankerous about taking his shot. I found the inject-ease (the old one by BD) on ebay brand new. It should be here Monday and hopefully it will make a big difference in how he takes his shots. He had his glucose curve done about a week ago, and she said his sugar was lower that she expected and put him on 4 units twice a day. I have learned alot just reading on this forum, and again, Thank God you are here.

[CraigM]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

Welcome, and hope I didn't confuse you when i combined your posts into one thread. We like each pup to have a sort of "home thread" to discuss their issues.

How much does RB weigh? If you have a copy of his glucose readings at the vet clinic, we would love to see them.

I'm sure others will comment soon, but weekends are sometimes slow on the forum.

Craig

[amydunn19]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

You might use that boiled chicken as his prize for getting his shot. Treat motivated dogs usually get much better about shots when a treat is involved post shot. If the boiled chicken is his thing, then I would save a piece or two for the shot. It will get easier in time.

[Rane]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

You might use that boiled chicken as his prize for getting his shot. Treat motivated dogs usually get much better about shots when a treat is involved post shot. If the boiled chicken is his thing, then I would save a piece or two for the shot. It will get easier in time.

Yes that is mostly when I give him the boiled chicken. We are teaching him that after his shot he gets the chicken. I also treat with a tiny piece of egg white to get him to go into his outdoor pen. We have a fenced in yard and we let him run out there when we are going to be out there with him, but he tries to eat everything he can find (who knows what it is he is eating!) so when we are not going to be out there with him but he wants to be outdoors, we put him in a small dog run. Otherwise, he stays in the house with us. Thanks for your input and I hope it does get easier for his sake.

[Rane]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

Thanks for the reply and no you didn't confuse me. RB now weighs 22 pounds. He is one of the bigger Min Pins but our vet would like him to lose 5 more pounds. I didn't want to decrease his food, so I have increased his exercise by taking him for a walk every morning. It is only about a 15 to 20 minute walk, but I am hoping it will help. She didn't give me a list of his blood sugars, but I can probably get them from her.

[CraigM]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

I hear Min Pins can be a bit feisty , but they are great pups.

You've probably read that consistency is very important. Food quantity is very important to Annie, so I use a food scale to weigh out her kibble. Measuring cups just didn't seem to be repeatable enough for her. Of course exercise is important to both pups and their humans, but you are wise to limit his walks because you don't know how exercise affects his blood glucose (BG), home testing would help. Some pups can have huge drops in their BGs in easy walks. Annie doesn't drop with an easy stroll, but if I give her a new toy she plays with it until she nearly drops from exhaustion and her BG may drop. Same thing with the VERY seldom piece of rawhide treat, she will go berserk trying to hide / bury / chew the rawhide and will have a BG drop. Again, home testing would tell you if RB gets a drop from playing. Between meal treats really need to be limited, that rawhide I just mentioned is only every few months (think I bought the package nearly two years ago), and I expect poor BGs afterward! She does get 2-3 pieces of cut frozen (yes, frozen straight from the freezer) green bean after her blood tests.

Craig

[Franklin'sMum]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

Hi Rane and welcome to you and RB

Honestly, I think you will love the inject ease device, it's been my saving grace and the first time I used it I nearly cried with happiness at how easy and quick shot time became. The only thing we've modified is the treat afterwards. It's now diced bacon, and it works for us.

I pop Franklin onto my lap and usually use my left forearm to go under his arms while curling my wrist toward me to gently lift a tuft of hair at/above his right shoulder or behind his armpit at a little pad of (our vet calls it) fat. I call it a little bit of extra skin

These days Franklin doesn't like injections on his left side, maybe RB has his own preferences for where he might tolerate a shot better than other areas?

Home testing is a fabulous tool, if RB does something strange, you can check him to see where his sugars are at, also you could run a curve at home (less stress for him, compared to being at the vets in a cage. More realistic numbers, in my opinion And it can save you some money, especially during the regulating process.)
Since I started home testing, Franklin hasn't objected once. He only gets an ear scratch, kisses and a tummy rub

If you're interested in home testing, there are plenty of videos. If you have questions just ask and you'll get lots of answers. Good luck

[Rane]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

Thanks so much for your warm welcome. I have seen your videos on youtube. You make it look so easy. I got the device in the mail, but my syringes don't fit it, they are a kroger brand, so I will need to buy different syringes. My husband is very worried that the click will scare RB as he is quite excitable if he thinks you are going to do anything to him other than feed or pet him. Can't look in his ears or mouth without a battle. Actually, he is pretty good about the shots but only after a bit of craziness, like jumping and running around for a bit. Then he finally settles down and takes the shot. Anyway thanks for all your videos, they have helped.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

You could train him before putting a needle in the device to "love" the click by associating it with a reward. If you used very tiny bits of chicken or, better yet, vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower or green beans as rewards, they wouldn't upset the blood sugar much as far as regulation but could condition him to think the click of the device is the best thing ever.

Click and treat, click and treat, click and treat. It's amazing how well it can work in a dog who is very motivated by rewards.

Natalie

[farrwf]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

You could train him before putting a needle in the device to "love" the click by associating it with a reward. If you used very tiny bits of chicken or, better yet, vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower or green beans as rewards, they wouldn't upset the blood sugar much as far as regulation but could condition him to think the click of the device is the best thing ever.

Click and treat, click and treat, click and treat. It's amazing how well it can work in a dog who is very motivated by rewards.

Natalie

Just like the nuns in a parochial school.

I remember Sister Bernadette trained an entire class of Grade 1 kids to sit, stand and kneel to prompts from her clicker.

She even trained Bernard Mulvey, and that was something.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

Just like the nuns in a parochial school.

I remember Sister Bernadette trained an entire class of Grade 1 kids to sit, stand and kneel to prompts from her clicker.

She even trained Bernard Mulvey, and that was something.

Ha! Too funny! I remember one of the Cushing's forums folks said she used the techniques to "train" her kids!

Our diabetic dog always got a mini milkbone after his injection - just counted it as part of his meal calories. And he used to get a bit impatient if we took too long to get the shot done cuz he wanted his treat!

Natalie

[CarolW]

Re: Hi I am new and thank God you are here

You could train him before putting a needle in the device to "love" the click by associating it with a reward. If you used very tiny bits of chicken or, better yet, vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower or green beans as rewards, they wouldn't upset the blood sugar much as far as regulation but could condition him to think the click of the device is the best thing ever.

Click and treat, click and treat, click and treat. It's amazing how well it can work in a dog who is very motivated by rewards.

Natalie

This "click and treat" is a WONDERFUL parody on clicker-training! It really does help.

Wishing all the best to you, Rane. Sounds as though you have a good start; hope you can learn to test BG levels at home!

Thu, 6 Jun 2013 20:49:50 (PDT)