Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

[Rob3ddd]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Daisy 10 y/o mini schnauzer 20lbs

95 grams protein (Chicken/beef)
45 grams chana dal (desi chickpeas)
65 grams green beans
1 tsp pumpkin
Between 10-20 grams kibble, depending on activity and fasting glucose
1 noodle around 11am/pm-12am/pm
1/2 vitamin
1/4 t d-mannose before bedtime

4.5u Novolin N

Advocate PetTest
One Touch Ultra- unistrips are pretty cheap
Alphatrak2 - don't use this too much anymore

This diet is similar to what I’m giving Earl and I hope it’s okay I make a quote to help find the page later.
Is this the days total or twice a day?
I’m giving Earl chicken thighs with fat trimmed off,brown rice,and cauliflower and I was throwing in green beans.
I give him 4 ounces twice a day of the mixture above about 50% chicken then shortly after a teaspoon of Greek yogurt and 1/2 teaspoon of canned pumpkin.
I just added salmon and unfortunately the weather has me limited to canned Alaskan.
I do give him treats of yogurt and 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin during the day
and it’s looking like pumpkin especially during days it’s super cold keep his movements consistent and easier.
I guess insulin can slow down digestive tract or it has done so with Earl.

[Bellandanny]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Now that my dog Bella is doing pretty okay with her diabetes + pancreatic cysts (likely caused by diabetes, and the cause of some insulin resistance), I figured I'd add our info here in case it helps someone else:

Bella - 12 years old spayed female, diagnosed at 11.5 years old, 38lbs, 4/9 body score, some liver deterioration (from diabetes), slight anemia
Insulin - 18 units of Vetsulin, twice daily
Food - 1/2 cup Wellness Core reduced Fat + 1/2 can Purina Pro Grain Free Turkey and Venison pate, twice daily
Treats - freeze dried chicken, here and there
Exercise - .5 mile walk before each meal and a couple 2 mile hikes per week
Meter - Test Buddy. We later on got the Alphatrax 2, which I think is more user friendly, but it reads about 30-50 higher, so we've continued with the Test Buddy just in case it's in fact more accurate, and that keeps the lower bound safer

She was very hard to regulate for 3+ months, then at 18 units we got to a point where her numbers are still high, from about 500 after food to 300 lows, but she seems to do okay here, and is drinking a normal amount of water. At that point, multiple vets and the smart folks here, have said to not try and chase lower numbers much lower.

She went blind a couple months after diagnosis, almost overnight, which quickly turned into glaucoma. This seemed like it was going to go badly, and her eyes looked terrible, but they've slowly improved and look normal-ish after a month or so of meds. She's mostly adjusted to being blind, and she got some Rex Specs goggles to wear when hiking, because she still loves that and it enables some more strenuous exercise, which she lost the ability to do in the yard, aka chasing squirrels, after going blind.

Hoping this routine will continue to serve her well, and as of now there's no big vet appointments on the horizon. For those that may be struggling with k9 diabetes early on, and getting stressed out about it all, at least in our somewhat difficult case it took a while, and was stressful, but has absolutely been worth the challenge. And thanks again to this forum and the help we received!

[TecumsehDad]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Dog's name, breed: Henry, Lab/Border Collie. Probably 11 years old.

Dog's weight: 68lbs

Diet: Natural Balance Grain Free Lamb Formula twice a day. We make homemade deer jerky treats for him. He has some food allergies and chicken is a big one, turns him red and his hair falls out.

Insulin: Vetsulin but doesn’t seem to be helping much. Glucose readings still 400 to 500. Our vet is concerned to increase insulin any higher for now.

Number of units per injection and injections per day: 14 units twice daily.

Brand of BG meter if home testing: Advocate PetTest meter and strips. I have a One Touch as backup.

Henry was just diagnosed with diabetes about a month ago. Out vet believes it was from long term steroids for allergies. He was started on Vetsulin 10 units 2x a day and increased from there to 14 units. He has shown improvement as we were getting HI on the meter at first. I'm not sure at times if he will get through this.

I am sure you figured this out, but to me it sounded like he was getting too much insulin and rebounding, or cushings. Would love an update so we can all learn from your experiences.

[J.Ryan]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Hello Everyone. I am new to this forum. My dog Pepper was diagnosed with diabetes in May of 2020. He is a small 30 lb pit mix. Since diagnosis, he has turned into the pickiest eater in the world. I am currrently feeding him Acana Appalachian Ranch and he is eating the best he has in a long time. He was on Taste of the Wild for years, and after a recent bout of sickness, refused to eat it anymore. The insulin I use is Levemir. It is an insulin pen and is the most convenient thing in the world. He is currently at 5 units, twice per day. He regulated very well and very quickly on this insulin. I use the Alpha Trak II meter to test his glucose levels. Pepper hasn’t had a whole lot of complications from diabetes, but he has had a lot of complications with urinary tract infections which complicate his treatment. He also came down with a bout of hepatits last summer that landed him in the hospital for several days. As of now, we haven’t had to go to the vet since May of this year, which is the longest stretch we have gone since diagnosis. Hoping I can learn some things from this forum and hopefully help others too!

[ReidWHopkins]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Consider putting a libre freestyle sensor on him for 14 days. That way you can get as many readings as you want for that period of time. I got mine using a goodRX coupon for about $70 us. Big savings over paying 10-20 per test at a vet.