Sweet KirbyK passed on March 7, 2016

[peony]

Re: KirbyK

I have been giving Kirby frozen green beans and he really likes them. Another suggestion by my vet was plain unsalted rice cakes. They have no taste but surprisingly Kirby likes them. I think it is the satisfying crunch. I break them into little pieces to give to him.

[Judi]

Re: KirbyK

Are you giving any snacks? Like frozen green beans or pure pumpkin (not the pie filling) to tide him over from one meal to the next? My Westie can't go 12 hours in between meals without bile build up. Does anyone give snacks that don't affect BG?

a lot of us use/used protein type snacks. I used the freeze dried liver treats, other people made their own jerky. for a lot of dogs protein stuff or veggies doesn't seem to affect the blood sugar as much as carby snacks do.

[peony]

Re: KirbyK

New Curve results (1/23/16)
10:00 AM 341 (fasting)
NOON 372
2:00 PM 130
4:00 PM 416
6:00 PM 544
8:00 PM 460
10:00 PM 448

I do hate curve days! I'm pretty sure Kirby hates them more than I do though. I'll call the vet with the results tomorrow. He's still acting hungry most of the time and I am giving him beans, rice cakes and turkey as treats. I check his pee for ketones and glucose every day and weigh him every other day. He's gained two pounds in the two weeks he's been on insulin. He's gone up and down in weight over the two weeks but up overall.

I want to thank everyone on the forum who helped me at the beginning of this journey (and continuing.) I am convinced you helped me save his life. You are a warmhearted and thoughtful group.

Kara

[Jessie'sMummy]

Re: KirbyK

New Curve results (1/23/16)
10:00 AM 341 (fasting)
NOON 372
2:00 PM 130
4:00 PM 416
6:00 PM 544
8:00 PM 460
10:00 PM 448

I do hate curve days! I'm pretty sure Kirby hates them more than I do though. I'll call the vet with the results tomorrow. He's still acting hungry most of the time and I am giving him beans, rice cakes and turkey as treats. I check his pee for ketones and glucose every day and weigh him every other day. He's gained two pounds in the two weeks he's been on insulin. He's gone up and down in weight over the two weeks but up overall.

I want to thank everyone on the forum who helped me at the beginning of this journey (and continuing.) I am convinced you helped me save his life. You are a warmhearted and thoughtful group.

Kara

Kara that's such good news - I can't comment on the curve as I don't know enough, but he sounds like he's doing a lot better, especially the weight gain.

[jesse girl]

Re: KirbyK

the 130 looks to be a bit out of place

the vet may discount it. sometimes its a good idea to retest an odd number. i understand the difficulty but we do base dose adjustments on the lowest number in a curve

great job. much better to do it at home

[CraigM]

Re: KirbyK

I know the vet suggested the rice cakes, but isn't white rice a carbohydrate that could increase his blood glucose? Would you remember if you gave him rice cake around the 2pm test that might have caused the jump to 416 at 4pm? Just guessing.

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: KirbyK

the 130 looks to be a bit out of place

the vet may discount it. sometimes its a good idea to retest an odd number. i understand the difficulty but we do base dose adjustments on the lowest number in a curve

great job. much better to do it at home

Yea, on second look that 130 does look out of place.

[peony]

Re: KirbyK

I know the vet suggested the rice cakes, but isn't white rice a carbohydrate that could increase his blood glucose? Would you remember if you gave him rice cake around the 2pm test that might have caused the jump to 416 at 4pm? Just guessing.

Craig

I wondered about it myself. I had read that white rice, white bread, etc were bad for a diabetic. The rice cakes are extremely low calorie though and he gets a lot of crunch satisfaction from them. The vet recommended them on two different occasions. He usually gets the rice cake about 7 pm. He acts hungry way before it's time to eat again (10 pm) and it seems like the rice cake satisfies him enough to wait. During the day it's pretty much green beans as a treat - occasionally a little piece of turkey.

The second time we did the curve 2 pm was his highest reading - 669. His first curve it was second highest at 2 pm. His lowest reading ever prior to yesterday was 339. I'm baffled. We are using the AlphaTrac monitor now.

[CraigM]

Re: KirbyK

The second time we did the curve 2 pm was his highest reading - 669. His first curve it was second highest at 2 pm. His lowest reading ever prior to yesterday was 339. I'm baffled. We are using the AlphaTrac monitor now.

these 2pm readings sound more what I would have expected with Annie. She would frequently have her highest number somewhere around the 6th hour. So maybe the 130 was just an off test.

Craig

[Judi]

Re: KirbyK

food with a lot of carbs makes some dogs have higher blood sugar. i know Kirby is so hungry and the rice cakes help but I wonder if those are adding to the problem.

A lot of dogs don't have a reaction just to protein. That is why some people would make their own chicken jerky or just use small pieces of boiled or baked chicken.

something to consider.

[peony]

Re: KirbyK

"food with a lot of carbs makes some dogs have higher blood sugar. i know Kirby is so hungry and the rice cakes help but I wonder if those are adding to the problem.

A lot of dogs don't have a reaction just to protein. That is why some people would make their own chicken jerky or just use small pieces of boiled or baked chicken. something to consider." Judi

I don't know what I did wrong but Judi's comment isn't highlighted like it should be.

I think I'll start cooking some chicken for Kirby. He loves it and it will be good for him.

The vet wants me to test Kirby the next three days at 3 pm. She said all the other readings would indicate a need for more insulin but she's concerned about the one low reading.

Question - do you always follow what the vet tells you to do or do you make decisions on your own at times. She mentioned possibly switching brands of insulin and I want to avoid doing that if at all possible. We're not there yet I'm just putting a feeler out.

Thanks! Kara

[Cara Sandler]

Re: KirbyK

"food with a lot of carbs makes some dogs have higher blood sugar. i know Kirby is so hungry and the rice cakes help but I wonder if those are adding to the problem.

A lot of dogs don't have a reaction just to protein. That is why some people would make their own chicken jerky or just use small pieces of boiled or baked chicken. something to consider." Judi

I don't know what I did wrong but Judi's comment isn't highlighted like it should be.

I think I'll start cooking some chicken for Kirby. He loves it and it will be good for him.

The vet wants me to test Kirby the next three days at 3 pm. She said all the other readings would indicate a need for more insulin but she's concerned about the one low reading.

Question - do you always follow what the vet tells you to do or do you make decisions on your own at times. She mentioned possibly switching brands of insulin and I want to avoid doing that if at all possible. We're not there yet I'm just putting a feeler out.

Thanks! Kara

Lots of people here on the forum find that their own judgement is much better than the vet's advice. As well meaning as most vets are, they are simply not very experienced in canine diabetes.

[amydunn19]

Re: KirbyK

My vet is pretty knowledgeable but he really doesn't micromanage me. He pretty much trusts me to do what I need to do. I would test quite a bit in the beginning and learn as much as you can from your dog's reactions to things. I found my dog didn't respond the way that the vet thought she would or should. They tend to treat dogs as if they all will react the same. Sometimes, they just don't take into account that they are individuals.

[Eddie]

Re: KirbyK

We manage almost entirely without the vet's input. We need them to give us prescriptions for insulin but they don't even ask to see Eddie for those and we have only ever had them do one curve (3 years ago).

We see far more of them for help with his ear infections and they sort of enquire about the diabetes but only in very general terms.

I think they trust us to manage it and we have found that they just don't have the detailed knowledge that we now have - in a small way we have become experts, not on diabetes in general, but just on Eddie's diabetes.
We adjust his doses according to our own testing and find it mainly varies in a seasonal way ie he needs more in winter and less in the summer. I don't think they would have really discovered that by spot testing or even by doing the two-monthly curves that they initially proposed for us.

At the beginning I was also quite wary of their advice and did not always follow it to the letter - eg when increasing the dose they always suggested increasing by two units which we felt was too much, so we always staggered it and went up one unit at a time. I see them as having an opinion which we take into account but we make the final decisions.
Antonia

[labblab]

Re: KirbyK

Just checking in to see how Kirby is doing. I know I'm not much help with the diabetic issues , but I keep checking on you over here to see how you guys are doing. It's been a while now, so I'm hoping for an update?

Marianne