Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

[LizE]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

I brush my dog's teeth every day because she is not a candidate for a regular dental cleaning. For years I used Virbac CET enzymatic toothpaste. Snickers really liked the taste of if. I switched her recently when she was having some stomach troubles because I thought maybe she developed an intolerance to one of the ingredients (she hadn't, she had pancreatitis). She is now using Petrodex enzymatic toothpaste. Both seem to work equally well.

I think the benefits of regular brushing overcome the potential problems from exposure to toothpaste ingredients. Plus it really does help with what my son calls "mummy breath" with Snickers.

[katy1]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

Thanks for the suggestions! If those have worked for your pups without effecting glucose they should be good enough for Annie. Blessings. Karen

[Raysaint]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

And I believe Dechra makes a brand called Vetradent. Vets use them a lot. Just read the ingredient list.
I just ordered the wipes for my other dog, who has bad dental problems.

[amydunn19]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

Zymox is Oratene now I think. It fights the dry mouth that many dogs develop and it can make teeth really bad. It causes so much build up on the teeth. Oratene was developed by the scientists who cameup with Biotene for people. I highly recommend all their products. Maggie’s teeth improved greatly after I started using it. Also, if you don’t want to use a gel or paste, if you can get a finger brush and at least get the food particles trapped swept out. It will help.

[katy1]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

Well, I’m back for more advice from you wonderful folks. Annie has cataracts and she is going in for double cataract with lens replacement on May 17th.

Does anyone here have experience with cataract surgery? We are finally stable on her insulin. She’s on 7 units 2xday after meals. She is eating 1/2 can glycobalance twice a day plus a few freeze dried chicken breast bites. She had a fructosamine test last week and the vet said it was normal. Sorry I don’t have numbers yet. I also still have not learned to test at home.

I’ll wait for a response then ask more questions. Blessings to you all and your pups. Karen

[MikeMurphy]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

Hi Karen,

My Lily had successful cataract surgery back in 2014 and her sight and eye health is still very good. She still gets a daily non steroid anti inflammatory eye drop and visits the opthalmologist every 6 months.

Lily’s opthalmologist monitored her blood glucose during the surgery. Be prepared to follow a very strict regiment of eye drops following surgery.

Best of luck with the surgery.

[katy1]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

My next question is, how tough is the post surgical care—I mean the day of the surgery or evening of.... We live 2.5 hours away from the surgeon and we will be in a motel the night of the surgery so we can take her in the next morning for a check-up.

I know she’ll be in a cone for a week and she’s never had to wear one before so I’m just freaking out about all these unknowns.

I’d be asking the surgeon herself, but she is recovering from her own surgery—had to have her right foot rebuilt and is in sole practice. She won’t be back in her office until a week before Annie’s surgery.

It is encouraging to hear that your Lily is doing so well. I appreciate your input.Blessings, Karen

[CraigM]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

My Annie also had cataract surgery to both eyes. The surgery was successful in one eye, but she lost vision in the other eye. In hindsight I wonder if I just wasn’t attentive enough. Be prepared for follow up appointments that may add up to real $$$. Hopefully, your Annie won’t have the problems my Annie did. As Mike mentioned, expect several eye drops / ointments that are administered at different times. At one time, she was on 7 or 8 medications that I needed a matrix to remember the various scheduling😁😁.

I hope I’m not scarring you, because many pups make it through without problems.

Annie eventually went blind to glaucoma at around age 15-16 (I’m not remembering and you can check her thread). This is hard to believe, but I really think she had a better life after she went totally blind! She still went on walks and folks didn’t believe she was blind. She DEFINITELY could find her food bowl😁. We had good times playing “hide and seek”😁

Craig

[MikeMurphy]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

In regard to post surgery care and the whole process, take a look at what Lily’s opthalmologist has to say... http://www.animaleyecareofwny.com/re...cataracts.html

Your surgeon may be less stringent.

[katy1]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

We ran into a major road block this week. On Sunday, Annie was as spunky and more playful then we’ve seen her in years. Then, Monday she started vomiting bile so we got her to our vet ASAP. He ultrasounded her and found that her gallbladder was twice the size of a normal one. She also had pancreatitis so they kept her, stabilized her and we drove her to a vet specialty clinic in Chicago. The surgeon removed her gallbladder and filled with a mucocele today, and so far, she is holding her own.

Everything is now up in the air regarding her cataract surgery. I’m almost positive we are going to have to postpone it again.

Thanks for your information from your ophthalmologist—pretty much the same and I started using all the drops and salves to keep her eyes in the best shape possible. I just hope we will be able to keep her blood glucose stabilized once she is released from the hospital. This has just been a nightmare! Blessings to you all and your pups. Karen

[jesse girl]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

Wow have not heard of emergency surgery to remove a gall bladder on this forum . My jesse was spayed after emergency surgery for a uterus infection when she also was diagnosed diabetic , DKA and pancreatitis .

Pancreatitis is a complication of diabetes and can be a cause . On rare occasions it can spark the pancreas to work again mostly in a short term so watch blood sugar the need for insulin may need to be reduced temporarily .

hope Annie gets well soon

[katy1]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

Hi, Just a quick update on Annie. We visited her at the specialty clinic in Chicago this morning. We expected to be taken back to the ICU to see her but low and behold, they led us into an exam room and shortly after, in waddles Annie on all fours lugging her heart monitor and still sporting the feeding tube. We just cried for joy!

She is starting to eat baby food and a few small bites of chicken. They are going to let her eat anything she wants and regulate her insulin as needed. I’m sure I ‘ll be given a boatload of instructions regarding her diabetes and insulin regulation when she is released.

This is a very specialized surgery because the liver can also be involved. Our surgeon has preformed hundreds of these surgeries with an 85% success rate. Cushings can cause these mucoceles to form inside the gallbladder. The fact that she had sudden onset pancreatitis didn’t help.

We also met with an internist assigned to her case, not only for the diabetes but because she has cushings. She will need to be on a very low fat diet once she is home. The doc said she eventually wanted her back on the Glycobalance which I was glad to hear.

Annie may be well enough to come home on Sunday or Monday. She has had no complications so far but I think we got her there in time and were very lucky. So far, she is our little miracle with all the strikes against her. Blessings to you all and your pups. Karen

[jesse girl]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

glad things seem to be going in a positive direction and hope you can get Annie home soon

[katy1]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

Annie continues to improve everyday. She will get her 33 staples out next Thursday. Our regular doc checked her out this past week to make sure that everything was on track— which she is. Her doc also bumped up her food intake from one can of Glycobalance per day to 2 full cans to put some weight on her. I have no idea what this is doing to her bg levels. Before all this happened, she was well controlled on 7 units twice a day on just 1 can of food. After the surgery they had her on 5 units. With doubling her food intake I have bumped it back up to 7. She is handling that just fine.

I’m sure we’ll have many adjustments to make going forward. We had to postpone her cataract surgery for obvious reasons but also the eye doc had foot surgery and had some complications. This has just been overwhelming!

On the advice of the wonderful people on the cushings site, we bought her a play pen to contain her as she was starting to jump on the couch and was just too active for her own good right now. She is not a happy camper but we don’t have much longer to go. Blessings to you all and your pups. Karen

[Raysaint]

Re: Annie: Diabetic with new Cushings diagnosis

Are you not home testing? Doubling her food will surely affect her sugars. You could be testing and adjusting the dose once a week as needed.

Does the vet want her to stay on 2 cans a day? Her weight might climb too much and then you’re cutting it back and adjusting again. Dogs will usually slowly put weight back on once their ordeal is over.