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It's amazing how well they can separate the pills from the treat! I guess peanut butter might stick better...
Eddie - Lab x golden retriever. Weighed 63lbs. Ate Canagan. Diagnosed October 2012. 13units of Caninsulin twice a day. Had EPI as well as diabetes. Died 20 June 2017. Loved forever.
This morning, I had a small victory. Clyde ate a blob of low-fat cheese with the pill concealed inside it. Someone had suggested 'dropping' it on the floor, and in the rush to gobble it up before I stopped him, he swallowed the pill too. But I shall hold peanut butter in reserve for when he gets wise to the cream cheese rouse. Thank you.
Clyde: born 21 Feb 2001, dx Dec 2013. Caninsulin 2 x 5u, Prednidale, Pred Forte eye drops. Weight 4.75kg
Chuck-108 lb male Rottweiler, 8 years old. Dx Sept. 24, 2014. 22.5 units of Novolin N 2 x a day. Alpha Track 2. 2 1/2 cup Purina OM Select Blend, 2 x a day. Also mom to 2 Boxer boys, I love my 3 boys-chucksmom aka Kim
Chucksmom - you're so right. It made me feel we had taken the first step to Clyde's recovery from the colitis attack! We've had another success this morning. Yay!! He's also finished the course of Kaogel today, thank goodness.
Clyde: born 21 Feb 2001, dx Dec 2013. Caninsulin 2 x 5u, Prednidale, Pred Forte eye drops. Weight 4.75kg
Maggie - 15 1/2 y/o JRT diagnosed 9/2007, Angel status on 6/20/16. Her mantra was never give up but her body couldn't keep up with her spirit. Someday, baby.......
Grayson also loves his 'medicinal' cheese . He sits nicely and watches us as we roll his Novox pill in a strip of cheese, then he gulps it right down. He knows the pill is there, but the bit of cheese makes it acceptable I guess... If he hears when I open the refrigerator 'cheese drawer', he follows until he gets a taste. There is no use of cheese in our house that is not closely monitored by the guardian of the cheese drawer! Peanut butter is an acceptable substitute for pill camouflage, but I prefer to use the cheese, due to sugar content. You use whatever gets the 'evil medicine' into their bellies so it can help them...
Grayson - 95lb black lab, 10yrs old, diagnosed 3/22/14 - Novolin N (27units) and Merrick Grain Free Buffalo and Sweet Potato dry food - Novox 100mg twice daily & a Cosequin supplement - Alphatrak2 & One Touch Mini
If the cheese route ever fails and you do move to peanut butter, you can actually find organic freshly ground peanut butter with nothing added (including no sugar added) in gourmet grocery stores.
Sparky Love, diagnosed March 5, 2014. Enrolled in Kinostat study to prevent cataract formation. Pancreatitis June 16, 2014 - hospitalized for 6 days in the ICU. Went to the Rainbow Bridge June 23, 2014. I love you very much, baby.
Cara - I had no idea peanut butter could rise to such lofty heights. Seriously, I buy organic, nothing added whenever I can, both for us and Clyde.
Grayson - it's a small canine miracle that they can distinguish any cheese-related sounds from all the other noises in the home. Grayson is clearly king among kings when it comes to his favourite cheese.
Update on Clyde: We have finally finished with all his colitis-related medications today. This seems like the place where true recovery begins. We can gradually get back to our normal routine of food and injections, and Clyde is slowly starting to take more interest in things again. He gave the postman a good barking at yesterday and last night when I got home from babysitting our granddaughters he gave me a thorough sniffing checking out the fact that I'd been unfaithful to him with their dog. Such small steps, but they make me happy. I'm so grateful, too, for all the support you all have given me - a big thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Clyde: born 21 Feb 2001, dx Dec 2013. Caninsulin 2 x 5u, Prednidale, Pred Forte eye drops. Weight 4.75kg
From appearing to make progress, Clyde slipped downhill again, and yesterday I phoned the vet. By the time she came out of surgery it was too late to see her, so we took him over to the veterinary hospital. His BG was up to 26. It's never been that high before, so no wonder he was so poorly. He was due for his injection and the vet upped the dose to 4u (from the 3 he'd been on while he was ill with colitis) and we had to take him back this morning for a 6hr blood test. This was down to 20, and his insulin has been increased to the 5u he was on before he was ill. We have to take him back in week.
He seems a bit happier tonight, but I know it's early days.
I'm waiting for a home testing kit to be delivered, (a big thank you to Antonia for helping with that) but am I right in thinking I need to wait for 5-6 days before trying to do his curve?
Clyde: born 21 Feb 2001, dx Dec 2013. Caninsulin 2 x 5u, Prednidale, Pred Forte eye drops. Weight 4.75kg
I think upping the dose to 5 units was a bit premature. It would have been more prudent to wait 5-7 days, do a curve after the dose has settled and then evaluate the 4 units. I don't know why they would automatically go to 5 units after one day.
I am glad you are going to be home testing - changes need to be slow especially with little dogs. Even a half unit can make a big difference in a small dog. A half unit more insulin would push my dog too low.
Maggie - 15 1/2 y/o JRT diagnosed 9/2007, Angel status on 6/20/16. Her mantra was never give up but her body couldn't keep up with her spirit. Someday, baby.......
I hope he's feeling better today. That's a big percentage increase in the dose. When our vet told us to increase Eddie's dose by what we thought was a lot we generally did it in stages so we could see how it went rather than going up all in one big jump and you might want to consider doing that here.
I wouldn't worry about doing an actual curve in the first few days. It would probably be useful just to do a few tests just to get a feel for doing it. We usually test before meal times as that is when Eddie is lowest and at any other time when we think he might be low or he is behaving oddly and we want to know if anything is going on.
As Amy says, any change in dose is best given a few days to settle in before assessing it with a curve. but a few spot checks are always useful and if you record them all then it will already start to give you a feel for when he is at his highest and lowest, as well as giving you practice in doing the tests.
When Eddie was first diagnosed the vet had us going in for blood tests at the 6 hour point, assuming that that was when Eddie would be at his lowest. Unfortunately Eddie hadn't read the textbook and he is always at his highest at 6 hours, which wasn't apparent until we had done more detailed testing. So although the 6 hour tests were useful in a vague sort of way, they weren't a lot of help in assessing what was a safe dose for him.
When you have the kit I suggest you dive straight in and start testing him so you can start getting to know the shape of Clyde's particular pattern. It is a fantastically useful tool in managing this condition!
Antonia
Eddie - Lab x golden retriever. Weighed 63lbs. Ate Canagan. Diagnosed October 2012. 13units of Caninsulin twice a day. Had EPI as well as diabetes. Died 20 June 2017. Loved forever.
Amy and Antonia - many thanks for your helpful replies. I queried the dose increase with the vet, and she said it was ok. However, I felt it was a large increase very quickly and I have slightly underdosed both last night and this morning, and shall continue to do so for a day or two.
However, Clyde does seem marginally better and is showing more interest in life. I can't wait to be able to test him myself and make sure he's ok, so I'm grateful for the advice on what to expect.
Clyde: born 21 Feb 2001, dx Dec 2013. Caninsulin 2 x 5u, Prednidale, Pred Forte eye drops. Weight 4.75kg
A brief update on Clyde. He's been back on 5u twice a day now for about 10 days and he's much more alert, interested in life and more like his old self (which, in truth, is pretty laid back). Our regular vet is now back at work and he saw Clyde yesterday. BG was 5.6, but he's still slightly lighter than he was.
My test kit hasn't arrive yet (!) but I feel that when it does I'll be able to get a better handle on clyde's ups and downs.
Thank you all again for al the help and advice.
Clyde: born 21 Feb 2001, dx Dec 2013. Caninsulin 2 x 5u, Prednidale, Pred Forte eye drops. Weight 4.75kg
Today is Clyde's 14th birthday. We've always made an extra fuss of our dogs on their birthdays, - a new toy each, their favourite walk,etc. This year is the first birthday Clyde celebrates without his brother Rusty. He's not really interested in toys, but the sun was shining so we went on his favourite walk and he sat in the greenhouse basking in the warmth while I was sowing seeds this afternoon. I know it's silly - he doesn't know about birthdays - but I'm so grateful that he is still with us and enjoying life. He's become really keen to meet other dogs when we're out - yesterday it was a huge, gentle elderly Yellow Lab, and I wonder if he's still missing Rusty as much as we are.
Home testing: following all your advice I ordered a home test kit via Amazon (fulfilled by another company), and it wasn't until I got to the invoice stage that delivery was mentioned - 2-4 WEEKS! I went ahead anyway, and it finally arrived yesterday, with a post mark in Germany. I'll try another supplier next time. So I'm now busy watching the excellent videos to learn how best to test! Tomorrow. I'm a bit nervous about hurting him.
Clyde: born 21 Feb 2001, dx Dec 2013. Caninsulin 2 x 5u, Prednidale, Pred Forte eye drops. Weight 4.75kg
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