Glucose readings high the last day and a half .

[Druymen]

Re: Dog food

I will have to look at pictures to see exactly where on the upper lip ..... He has been giving us a bit of a problem when getting his insulin. We have tried all different ways of distracting him and after a few days he is wise to knowing its coming and jerks around . It is causing us such anxiety !

[jesse girl]

Re: Dog food

Yep its a bit of a vicious cycle with your dogs displeasure creating anxiety for you which creates more problems for the dog . I give jesses a shot when she eats .I pinch some skin on her back side she pauses for a second from eating give shot and she goes back to eating . Now you do want to be confident your dog will eat with this method

Now you could try a similar thing but practice a bit just pinching some skin and maybe do that throughout the day . You have to take charge and not let your dog control the narrative . Shots got to be given no choice

You can do the same testing blood sugar . Break it down in steps . If you were using the lip maybe to start would be role the lip to expose the canine tooth and maybe rub the saliva off and be done and that would be one step and once acceptable move on to the next step

[amydunn19]

Re: Dog food

Does your dog have any bumps or skin tags? Those generally bleed well but don’t have nerve endings so they are not as painful. For home testing, blood from the vein is not necessary. Maggie had several and we ended up using one at the base of the tail. You may have to shave hair to accomplish this but there was no way she was going to let me touch her ears or lip.

How much does your dog weigh? What type of insulin are you using? The 86 is concerning but until you do a curve, we just won’t know.

So many diets out there. I would go with a low fat, lower to moderate protein, moderate fiber diet. Carbs are very necessary to meet up with intermediate insulin. Lack of carbs will cause some pretty wild swings and they burn through that insulin pretty quickly without some carb to slow it down a bit.

[Druymen]

Re: Dog food

I am struggling horribly with everything!!! He is 38 lbs 10 years old and on 12 units twice a day of vetsulin . I started cooking for him and his sugar went way down but it is going back up . Have an appointment with vet ftomorrow . Maybe I’m not giving him enough carbs . He gets one cup of skinless boneless chicken great 1/2 hard boiled egg . 2 Tbs brown rice . 2 tbs of a puréed veggie ( string beans , broccoli ) 2 tbs low-fat cottage cheese . At night I add in a bit of chicken broth with 1tsp of ground egg shells . Do I need more fiber ? I really need help . I also give him two ocu glo vitamins a day . I wrap them in a little
Bit of roast beef .... He has become very bad at getting his insulin !! I know let him
Eat and then walk him and as he is peeing I give him his injection . I hope he lets
Me
Continue to do that since we have gone thru all different ways and he winds up getting wise to it .

[jesse girl]

Re: Dog food

Its not about him letting you . You have to be strong and in charge . I can understand how we can loose the narrative with our dogs but its important for us to be in charge and thats when they are in their best state of mind

There really is no choice with this disease and it has to be treated . You need to pull your emotions out of the equation or you will continue to struggle

Its hard to say what would improve things without any curves posted to see whats problematic . Going to a homemade diet may need a reduction in the dose as it maybe lower glycemic but this is just speculation

You can do this . You have to and most of us have been in the same boat and a few months down the road you will be in a new normal which will work for you and your dog

[Druymen]

Re: Dog food

Thank you for all the support . I will do this !!! I have no choice but too since he is my baby. I have an appointment with my vet on Saturday and I am going to discuss doing a curve and ask him to show me how I can do it . Thank you again and I will post updates :-)

[Raysaint]

Re: Dog food

The carb amount seems low for a 38 lb dog, and on 12 units of insulin. My dog weighs 25 lbs and gets carbs from his can food plus I add a tblsp of pinto beans/oatmeal puree, and a tblsp of blueberries or pumpkin or yams.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Dog food

If he's 38lbs he needs between 920-1100 calories per day or around 460 to 550 (depending on activity level and age) calories per meal. One cup of boneless, skinless chicken breast (140 grams) is around 230 calories. A very general idea of how many carbs he needs per meal is around 35% of the total calories in carbs. All dogs are different and he may need more or less carbs, protein, fiber. That's just a basic idea of what to start with and tweak the protein, carbs and fiber from there. Some dogs do great with a 45-55% carb ratio in their kibble, so it really depends on what works well for him.

[Druymen]

Glucose readings high the last day and a half .

Finally thought I had my dog under control. He has had pretty good readings for the last 3 weeks. Yesterday i noticed that he was drinking more again and his urine stick was not good. Tested his urine this morning before insulin and not awful but this afternoon his strip came back high !!!! Any suggestions on what could be the problem. Was wondering if it could be the insulin. I just started a new bottle yesterday .

[jesse girl]

Re: Glucose readings high the last day and a half .

Hi and welcome

Its hard to say with limited information . Physical symptoms and urine strips are used in some cases but its something that was done in the past

Blood testing sugar and complete curves is the best way to regulate a dog . Not saying old methods cant Its just more difficult to draw any conclusions

If glucose curves have been done and you have access to them then posting them maybe helpful . You also would like to do a curve during this perceived loss of regulation

[MikeMurphy]

Re: Glucose readings high the last day and a half .

As jesse girl said, home testing with a meter is the best way to manage your dog’s diabetes.

There are some good videos here on how to test a dog’s BG...

http://www.k9diabetes.com/bgtestvideos.html

I test Lily on the inside of her upper lip. There is plenty of blood available there and I don’t have to squeeze her lip.

Do you still have your Alphatrak? If so, remember that you have to slide the side of the test strip into the blood droplet.

Testing is all about practice, staying calm, confident and encouraging your dog.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Glucose readings high the last day and a half .

Do you have any insulin left in the old bottle?

We used to always save a little in the old bottle for situations like this so we could compare and see if there was a problem with a new bottle. They can wind up sitting on a loading dock in the heat, for example, and be damaged.

Other possibilities are an injection that went astray somehow or your dog found some food somewhere you didn't know about.

Some of these things are temporary and will wash out after a day or so.

Natalie

[Raysaint]

Re: Glucose readings high the last day and a half .

A urine strip is one point in time, and any human or dog can spill a bit of sugar into their urine. If it becomes a trend, check it out.

Regulation means you've achieved the range you want on a somewhat regular basis. My dog is finally regulated but he still will have a high fasting reading or something I didn't expect. Don't panic. It happens and will work itself out.
Having good numbers all the time is not reality. There are so many things out of our control, and the body is very complex in what it does and how it behaves. We're trying to replace bodily processes and functions with food and insulin.

If you want to manage this disease better, get your self a meter. I don't know how anyone can manage diabetes without one. I'm diabetic 30 years and my meters are my best friends. How else do you know if your routine is working, good or bad, or how do you confirm a suspicion.

[trek4of9]

Re: Glucose readings high the last day and a half .

When Molly gets a UTI her blood sugar elevates a lot. Threw off two blood curves I was doing (I test at home and send results to vet), I could not figure out why she was running so high.