Re: Food Quantities?
Hi Amy,
Generally, unless a dog is very active, the recommendations on the bags tend to be a lot more food than is needed. So it could be that you gave him quite a bit more calories when you switched to the Blue Buffalo.
Our dog was older and not very active and he needed about 900 to 1,000 calories per day.
Every dog's response to food and insulin is different and a food that works great for my dog can be a nightmare for yours and vice versa. If you can get started testing at home, you will be able to see what the food and insulin are doing in much better detail and can then determine whether the food generally works or whether the diet needs some tweaking or a wholesale change.
And you want to be sure with any new food you give that you keep the calorie count the same. If it's not provided on the package, you can typically the calories (kCals) per cup from the food maker's website. Counting calories allowed us to change our dog's diet relatively easily with minimal change in the insulin dose.
The huge spike and drop in blood sugar you had with the DCO is defnitely not ideal - would make it very difficult to regulate him. It could be resolved either with feeding something else or replacing some of the NPH with faster acting insulin to curb the spike.
All of which can be sorted out when you test at home.
Also wanted to mention that I don't really know why diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus share a name because they really don't have anything in common except excess urination. Blood sugar levels are not affected in insipidus.
You will get there if you learn to test and then take a slow methodical approach - one change at a time, test, evaluate, take the next step. With time in between insulin dose changes for the body to adjust.
Natalie
Hi Amy,
Generally, unless a dog is very active, the recommendations on the bags tend to be a lot more food than is needed. So it could be that you gave him quite a bit more calories when you switched to the Blue Buffalo.
Our dog was older and not very active and he needed about 900 to 1,000 calories per day.
Every dog's response to food and insulin is different and a food that works great for my dog can be a nightmare for yours and vice versa. If you can get started testing at home, you will be able to see what the food and insulin are doing in much better detail and can then determine whether the food generally works or whether the diet needs some tweaking or a wholesale change.
And you want to be sure with any new food you give that you keep the calorie count the same. If it's not provided on the package, you can typically the calories (kCals) per cup from the food maker's website. Counting calories allowed us to change our dog's diet relatively easily with minimal change in the insulin dose.
The huge spike and drop in blood sugar you had with the DCO is defnitely not ideal - would make it very difficult to regulate him. It could be resolved either with feeding something else or replacing some of the NPH with faster acting insulin to curb the spike.
All of which can be sorted out when you test at home.
Also wanted to mention that I don't really know why diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus share a name because they really don't have anything in common except excess urination. Blood sugar levels are not affected in insipidus.
You will get there if you learn to test and then take a slow methodical approach - one change at a time, test, evaluate, take the next step. With time in between insulin dose changes for the body to adjust.
Natalie
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