Charlie is an angel 2/1/2016

[k9diabetes]

Re: Adapting to diabetes, 4 months since diagnosis

Way to go Charlie - so happy to hear he's adjusting so well!! And congrats on the major drop in the fructosamine. There is a lot of good news there.

Natalie

We had a good news bad news visit with our vet today. Fructosamine down to 383 (from 606 5 weeks ago!), but Charlie has, as we thought, gone blind from cataracts.

Thanks to all of you we, ok I, was not as distraught as I would have been had I not been following all of you and you fur babies. He is adjusting so quickly and can find his food, waters, toys and beds without a problem. We're still walking 3-4 times a day, though a wee bit slower since now EVERYTHING must be sniffed.

A slight tweak to his insulin and we'll go back in another 5-6 weeks.

Laura
P.S. And it's been 80 the last two days, love life as snowbirds

[k9diabetes]

Re: Newbie whose dog is NOT interested in breakfast

I heard there's a teenager in the house!!! Happy Birthday Charles!

[Monsters Momma]

Re: Newbie whose dog is NOT interested in breakfast

Happy Birthday Charlie!!!

Hope you all have a great day!!

[momofdecker]

Re: Newbie whose dog is NOT interested in breakfast

Happy 13th Birthday to Charlie. Good luck with those teenage years - LOL!

[jesse girl]

Re: Newbie whose dog is NOT interested in breakfast

yay for some special birthday wishes

[Charlie's mom]

Re: Newbie whose dog is NOT interested in breakfast

Thank you from Charlie, he had a great day with his Daddy yesterday and isn't even missing me (though my hubby is missing me getting up for the early morning ''woof' it's time for breakfast and my shot and my walk!')

[Linda1]

Re: Newbie whose dog is NOT interested in breakfast

Happy belated birthday, Charlie!

[Charlie's mom]

Taking the plunge and changing food

Happy Monday

We've been toying with the idea of changing Charlie's food, while the W/D is ok his numbers are not great again so we've decided to make a change. I spent Saturday afternoon in Petco (yes I need to get a life) reading labels in the store and reviews on my phone.

We're going to try Natural Balance Fat Dog. It's 250 calories a cup, for his weight the maintenance dose is about 2.5 cups a day. We're starting out half W/D and half Fat Dog and will monitor before changing over completely and add benefiber if needed. I just like these ingredients so much more. Will keep you posted:-D

Chicken Meal, Salmon Meal, Garbanzo Beans, Dried Peas, Pearled Barley, Oatmeal, Pea Fiber, Dried Beet Pulp, Alfalfa Meal, Oat Fiber, Tomato Pomace, Pea Protein, Natural Flavor, Brewers Dried Yeast, Vegetable Pomace (carrot, celery, beet, parsley, lettuce, watercress, spinach ), Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Dried Egg, Salmon Oil, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, niacin supplement, biotin, riboflavin supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid), Minerals (zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, sodium selenite, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, calcium iodate, colbalt carbonate), Inulin, DL-Methionine, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), L-Carnitine, Taurine, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Citric Acid and Mixed Tocopherols (preservatives), Dried Yucca Schidigera Extract, Rosemary Extract.
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein26.0% minimumCrude Fat7.5% minimumCrude Fiber10.5% maximumMoisture10.0% maximumOmega-6 Fatty Acids*1.5% minimumOmega-3 Fatty Acids*0.25% minimum

[Linda1]

Re: Taking the plunge and changing food

Hope the change in food helps!

[ceruleanblue]

Re: Taking the plunge and changing food

Good luck! Let us know how it goes. I'm also switching foods right now.

[amydunn19]

Re: Taking the plunge and changing food

I will be very interested in seeing what you get from this food.

[Charlie's mom]

Re: Taking the plunge and changing food

Amy, I actually looked for the Nutrisca but they didn't have it at my Petco. These ingredients and the protein/fat/fiber percentages seemed similar to Nutrisca. We start 50/50 of Fat Dog and W/D tomorrow. So far so good....as avid poo monitors I know you'll all understand when I say it looks more like digested food and not just filler (I know, TMI!)

[jesse girl]

Re: Taking the plunge and changing food

hope to see some positive results

[peeweek9]

Re: Taking the plunge and changing food

Happy Monday

We've been toying with the idea of changing Charlie's food, while the W/D is ok his numbers are not great again so we've decided to make a change. I spent Saturday afternoon in Petco (yes I need to get a life) reading labels in the store and reviews on my phone.

We're going to try Natural Balance Fat Dog. It's 250 calories a cup, for his weight the maintenance dose is about 2.5 cups a day. We're starting out half W/D and half Fat Dog and will monitor before changing over completely and add benefiber if needed. I just like these ingredients so much more. Will keep you posted:-D

Chicken Meal, Salmon Meal, Garbanzo Beans, Dried Peas, Pearled Barley, Oatmeal, Pea Fiber, Dried Beet Pulp, Alfalfa Meal, Oat Fiber, Tomato Pomace, Pea Protein, Natural Flavor, Brewers Dried Yeast, Vegetable Pomace (carrot, celery, beet, parsley, lettuce, watercress, spinach ), Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Dried Egg, Salmon Oil, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, niacin supplement, biotin, riboflavin supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid), Minerals (zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, sodium selenite, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, calcium iodate, colbalt carbonate), Inulin, DL-Methionine, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), L-Carnitine, Taurine, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Citric Acid and Mixed Tocopherols (preservatives), Dried Yucca Schidigera Extract, Rosemary Extract.
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein26.0% minimumCrude Fat7.5% minimumCrude Fiber10.5% maximumMoisture10.0% maximumOmega-6 Fatty Acids*1.5% minimumOmega-3 Fatty Acids*0.25% minimum

Hi Charlie's Mom,

I happened to come to the site today and your post caught my eye. Every dog is different and every situation is different (yada, yada) but I went through the same thing you have described (wanting to change the W/D food). Scooter was on W/D for three years, but I changed the food after he got stones, had surgery, had a hypo event (serious). But, a few weeks later, he fell ill and died. I hope this doesn't seem as if I am hijacking your post, but I need to give some background.

As I said, I didn't want him on the W/D from the start (time of diagnosis) and I fought it tooth and nail. But, I couldn't get his numbers regulated, so I went (kicking and screaming) to the W/D as the vet suggested (strongly). Not for nothing (I thought, back then) but how could that food be good for him with all those grains, etc., etc., & other reasons (founded or not). But, I slowly transitioned him to the food and we got his numbers under control for over 3 years and 85% of that time I wasn't even home testing, just doing the vet trips for checking numbers (yeah, I know better now) and went on with life....la-la-la ignorance was bliss.

Fast forward to 3 years later....my sweet boy developed stones, had surgery, had a hypo event (serious), got really sick and died. A few weeks before he died I changed his food thinking the stones were caused by the food so now would be a good chance to change him. I did research (drove myself crazy with it) and thought I made the right choice. The stuff I discovered about food (wet, dry, raw, everything) nearly overwhelmed me.

I blamed myself for changing his food from the W/D. I sort of got it in my mind that if I changed the food maybe he wouldn't get stones in the future. Maybe the food caused all these problems. The truth is I won't ever know, but I blame myself for changing the food. I will always wonder 'what if' I hadn't changed the food. Was the fat content too high for his pancreas to handle? I will never know.

People here change food with great success and I get that and every dog is different. But, I wanted to post my experience in hopes it would help you. Whether it is founded or not, I wanted you to know what happened when I changed food. The change may not have correlated with his getting sick, but I will never know and the likelihood that something in the food exacerbated some underlying situation is a real possibility, and even the vet didn't see it coming.

I would give anything to go back and NOT change the food. For some reason, the W/D DID get his numbers under control for all those years. But I convinced myself the cumulative effect of the food may have caused his initial problems and so I changed the food. I over corrected and over thought.

This is something I think about every day and I wanted to share with you so that you could be watching for any subtle changes.

You are a great mom and I can feel your dedication.

Eileen

[Charlie's mom]

Re: Taking the plunge and changing food

Good news!
Charlie has put on a pound, his coat is shiny again and we are much closer to where he should be.

We are not a success story for testing(he is a biter for that kind of activity) and although we tried multiple locations and devices we weren't terribly successful and so rely on fructosamine tests.

When we started the food change his fructosamine was 690 on 15 units of Novalin. Yesterday he was 470, which is fair control (just 20 points away from good!)

I'm not promoting this food for you all, this change just helps prove the point that sometimes if increased insulin doesn't resolve high glucose a food change may be needed.

We're bumping up one more unit and keeping fingers crossed we'll be back in the 300's again.

Another thank you to my fellow forum members; I never would have dared to make the change without reading what you all feed your babies and comparing ingredients and percentages.

Oh a personal note, we needed good news today; I just learned I have a torn meniscus .

Laura