Bogie - miniature schnauzer

[BoJanie]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Hi Dawn,

I'm glad to hear Bogie is doing so well with his bgs! When does Bogie's insulin peak during the day? Maybe try giving him the pill a couple of hours prior to it and see if it makes a difference. I give Bo a fish oil capsule daily wrapped in a canned dog food bite. I don't know it if raises the bg or not, but I'm sure the canned dog food affects it. I usually wait until his bg has started to drop in the late am or at noon to give it. I try not to give it at night or near the meals.

Our biggest problem still seems to be the Levemir not lasting long enough on some days and the food spike that Bo can have with Levemir being slow to kick in. It's frustrating, example, this am at 7:20 (2 hours after meal and shot) his bg was 493. I had an appointment so I didn't give a fast acting shot. Good thing because when I tested him at noon, bg was down to 123! So, I gave him the fish oil plus 2 more bites of canned food (insulin usually peaks around 1-2 pm).

As far as Bogie having more activity, I would probably try the treat first and not mess with his dose if it's working. Sounds like they will have a great time, hope you and mom do too! Janie

[BogiesMom]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

There is no doubt that I think that Vitamin E is good, but I believe the ones that come from the pill perhaps may be a little too potent for our little ones.

Perhaps in larger dogs, it may not be a bad supplement.

Every dog is different theory... but what I found in Abby, in fact I believe in her thread I had mentioned it is that I had noticed that when I gave her Vitamin E, her BG levels would drop. But I think with that drop, she would raise higher than she normally would. For us, I really wanted some level numbers, without any outside factors.

I give Abby 1/2 hardboiled egg with each meal --yokes included. I started include them because of the protein. It seemed to help her blood sugar overall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(food)

Barb

Thank you Barb for the information... I'm going to keep an eye on Bogies am numbers and if they remain in the mid 200 after a few days I will try to start him on a small piece of egg and work our way up.

Hi Dawn,

I'm glad to hear Bogie is doing so well with his bgs! When does Bogie's insulin peak during the day? Maybe try giving him the pill a couple of hours prior to it and see if it makes a difference. I give Bo a fish oil capsule daily wrapped in a canned dog food bite. I don't know it if raises the bg or not, but I'm sure the canned dog food affects it. I usually wait until his bg has started to drop in the late am or at noon to give it. I try not to give it at night or near the meals.

Our biggest problem still seems to be the Levemir not lasting long enough on some days and the food spike that Bo can have with Levemir being slow to kick in. It's frustrating, example, this am at 7:20 (2 hours after meal and shot) his bg was 493. I had an appointment so I didn't give a fast acting shot. Good thing because when I tested him at noon, bg was down to 123! So, I gave him the fish oil plus 2 more bites of canned food (insulin usually peaks around 1-2 pm).

As far as Bogie having more activity, I would probably try the treat first and not mess with his dose if it's working. Sounds like they will have a great time, hope you and mom do too! Janie

Thanks Janie,
It seems every time I try to give Bogie anything with oil in it his numbers climb but if he has to have fish oil down the road that is a good idea to give it during his low which is about 6 to 7 hours post injection.
Thanks also for the recommendation on the treat first... I really don't want to mess with his insulin now unless its absolutely necessary. Can you tell me what treat you find works well for Bo?? With your past food recommendations... Lowering the canned w/d etc it seems that Bogie and Bo react very similarly to food and I would like to have something diabetic friendly on hand if he does need a noon snack after playtime at noon.
Thanks again for your help and I hope Bo's numbers improve. I ordered a supplement from askariel.com who is a k9 nutritionist in so California for diabetic dogs called Lipoic Synergy http://www.askariel.com/product-p/114.htm
I'm going to give it a try and see how he responds to it, I'll keep you posted once I get it.

[BoJanie]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Dawn, I use a couple of treats but have not done specific testing of each one to see how they long they work. My favorite treats are mini carrots because I think they work pretty quickly and do not seem to raise the bg dramatically. The other one I use is Newman's Own Organics Dog Treats which come in different flavors, recommended on the forum and available at my Kroger and Petsmart stores, maybe Target as well. I tasted the peanut butter one and it had no taste at all (probably why it's healthy)!
But, I think they are so carb-y, it is best to give them when the bg is low but not scary low, or you anticipate it going lower, as in a good walk. I have given up to 5 of them and tested a couple of hours later and bg was high. So it's probably best to start with a couple and retest in an hour to get a feel for how they work. I have a tendency to panic if the bg is below 100 even when Bo is acting fine!. I also try to carry a sugar pack or glucose tab on walks and keep the tabs and gel versions in my car for emergency.

[BogiesMom]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Thanks Janie for the information... I never thought of the mini carrots Bogie use to eat those all of the time in his pre diabetic days.

Also, I've decided it's time to try to move Bogie to a better food.. I'm Really not that happy with the W/D ingredients and weight loss haven't been for a long time. Although it has helped his regulation and his curves are flat he really is not gaining the weight he should be... he does poop alot
I think I'm going to try Blue Buffalo's Healthy Weight, hopefully it will agree with Bogie... Fingers and toes crossed. Right now were dealing with a mild case of colitis so I put him on flagyl, once were done with that and his belly is back to normal i'll work on transitioning him to the BB. The good thing is my mom feeds her schnauzer the BB healthy weight so I can give it a try before buying the actual bag

[BoJanie]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Let us know how the food works out for you. You may find that a 50/50 mix works too. We are on a 75% WD to 25% Royal Canin PV mix. The bg's have been better with the WD being the main course, so I am keeping him on this for now but not crazy about it Hope Bogie's feeling better soon too!

[BogiesMom]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Let us know how the food works out for you. You may find that a 50/50 mix works too. We are on a 75% WD to 25% Royal Canin PV mix. The bg's have been better with the WD being the main course, so I am keeping him on this for now.

Good idea Janie... I'm going to go slow so if his BG # improve on the 50/50 or even a 75/25 mixture I may leave well enough alone

[BogiesMom]

Switch from canned to all dry W/D

Hi,

Quick question?? Can anyone suggest the best way for me to transition Bogie to all W/D dry? Do I need to do a slow transition from canned to the dry (this is all W/D) or can I cut out the canned all at once and replace it with all dry. If anyone is a math wizard and can help me figure out how to gradually swith him to all dry I would appreciate it. I just don't want to throw his BG reading off and I want to get the calories right.

Bogie currently eats 2.7 oz of W/D Dry, 3.9oz W/D Wet per feeding... He also gets chicken breast but I am not figuring that into the equation right now. I would like to switch him to all dry so I can eventually switch him to Blue Buffalo's Healthy Weight or a combination of W/D dry and BB Dry.

The calories between the 2 are differant 13oz can of W/D is 330 kcals and 3oz of dry is 243 kcals.

Any suggestions are appreciated I hope I wasn't too confusing because I am SO confused

Thanks

[k9diabetes]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Since he's already eating it and his other food is essentially the same, I don't think you would need to transition him over gradually.

Bogie currently eats 2.7 oz of W/D Dry, 3.9oz W/D Wet per feeding... The calories between the 2 are differant 13oz can of W/D is 330 kcals and 3oz of dry is 243 kcals.

So canned WD is 25.4 calories per ounce (330 divided by 13).

And dry WD is 81 calories per ounce (243 divided by 3) (because of the moisture that's not in the canned food).

3.9 ounces of wet has 99 calories, so he would need about 1.25 ounces (technically 1.22) (99 divided by 81) of the dry to replace the canned food calories.

His total calories for the meal come to 318. That's 99 (former 3.9 oz wet / now 1.25 oz dry) and 219 from the 2.7 oz of dry.

So when you transition him to BB or a mix, you want to come up with somthing that gives 318 calories total.

Natalie

[BogiesMom]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Thank you Natalie!!!

[Patty]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Just catching up on Bogie's thread today. Let us know how it goes!
Patty

[BogiesMom]

So far so good at the ophthalmologist

Today we took Bogie to see his new ophthalmologist for a follow up and just to get to know the new doc... All went really well!!! Bogies eye pressures are normal and the flecks in his lenses are unchanged from his last appointment We are to continue the non steroidal eye drops and follow up in 2 months unless we see any other changes before then.

Bogie also finished the flagyle and is doing well I am going to start a "very" slow transition over to the blue buffalo food starting Saturday morning so fingers and toes crossed I hope all goes well and his BG cooperates

Well keep you posted on our progress

[Rubytuesday]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Good news that there is no change. I wish you well with the food change. Changes can be good, but are always a bit nerve wracking.

Tara

[Patty]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Great news!!

[amholmesy]

Re: Bogie - miniature schnauzer

Great news wishing you a smooth transition with the food change!

[BogiesMom]

So far so good =)

Hi Everyone,
Well, we are about one week into our food change from W/D to Blue Buffalo and so far so good. I am going "Very" slowly with the change, .5of an oz every 2 to 3 days as long as his BG levels remain good as well as everything else.
He is on all dry now and he still gets boiled chicken with every meal. His numbers are still very level and staying about 190 at his night time fast and low 200's for his morning fast.
I am also giving him a probiotic and a supplement that helps to improve blood sugar levels which actually seems to be helping.
Hopefully we will be able to be entirely moved over to blue buffalo by Christmas.
Fingers and toes crossed…