Honey, the Yorkiepoo

[Debe Coetzee]

Hi all, I have just joined and have a 12 year old female yorkiepoo who has just recently had ketoacidosis from undiagnosed diabetis. She was very ill with concurrent pancreatitis. She has been on 4 units of caninsulin for about a week now. Her glucose is in the high twenties(500) We took a glucose curve and the low point is about 19(340) Last night we increased the insulin to 5 units and the morning reading was sky high 33.3(600) Do we maintain at 5 units or is something going on? I would appreciate any advice as this is a scary time.

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: New member

Hi and welcome

How much does your dog weigh please?

What food is he eating and how much

[Debe Coetzee]

Re: New member

Hi Riliey and Mo,

Honey weighs 18 pounds and is eating Royal canin fibre with chicken breast sprinkled over to encourage her to eat the new food. Unfortunately only about a half a cup at each meal.

[Debe Coetzee]

Re: New member

Hi , not sure if my replies are getting through.

Honey is 18 pounds.
Eating Royal canin fiber mixed with chicken breast,about half a cup in the morning and a cup at night.

[CraigM]

Re: New member

Welcome to the forum. Your posts might be a little slow showing up until Natalie ( forum owner) approves your membership. Until then, one of the moderators will need to approve them one at a time. Just the way we keep spam free. I'll send a message to Natalie and tell her you are here

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: New member

I would suggest doing a full 12 hour curve, blood testing every 2 hours from just before breakfast to just before dinner. Also, it would probably be best if you could feed identical meals, like maybe 3/4 cup for each meal if you want to keep the same total amount of food.

Consistency is really important. Same food, same amount, same insulin, same amount of exercise. Of course, it might not always be possible, but this would be ideal. Meals & insulin 12 hours apart. Yes, as time goes by you might be able, or need to, modify things.

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: New member

Oops, I see you have done a curve. Could you post the results? Actually, the difference between the 500s and 600s could just be normal variation, and as you probably have seen in your curve the glucose levels can vary by quite a bit throughout the day.

I would probably stay at 5 units, determine how much you plan to feed at each meal, and do another curve when you can. Many of us use kitchen food scales to weigh out the meals, because measuring cups (or handfuls) might not be repeatable enough for the pup.

Craig

[Debe Coetzee]

Re: New member

Hi ,She does not want food in the morning and by the time evening comes around she is starving .We took glucose reading every two hours today and from a morning high of 33.3 it came down to 22.4 at hour 7 at 5 units.
At 4 units the high was 28 to 30 and low at 19 . Is this just an initial reaction to higher dose ?

[k9diabetes]

Re: New member

Sorry for the delay. Your posts don't show up until after your membership has been approved, which I have now done! They were "in moderation" until then. I deleted the duplicates.

Welcome to you and Honey. Glad you are home testing as that and the wise members of this forum can help you sort out how Honey is doing with her food and insulin.

Natalie

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: New member

Others can chime in but I think 5 units is too much to start with. You don't want to get a too low BG with her not eating in the am

Check her BG 2 hours after food and insulin. Inject right afterfood

4 to 4 1\2 might be better

The thing is she's not consistent not eating in the mornings

Consistency is important. Her food and insulin need to meet. Looks like the insulin is getting ahead of the food.

Work on getting her to eat, adding a topper of salmon oil, cheese.
Wait 5 to 7 days then do another curve.

[Debe Coetzee]

Re: New member

Hi Natalie, thank-you for the welcome and sorry for the mistakes -new to the forum thing. Thank-you to all replies . Will be seeing vet in the morning and will keep you posted on Honey's progress.

[CraigM]

Re: New member - Honey

Just a reminder that food and insulin work together. If the meals are different, or vary, the insulin requirement might not be the same with each injection. Same thing if Honey gets treats or snacks, they can mess up curves.

It would help if you listed all the readings in the curves. Sometime another set of eyes can be helpful.

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: New member - Honey

Btw, would you like the name of your thread changed from "new member" to something a little more personal such as "Honey the Yorkiepoo"? Or something else? One of the moderators can make the change for you.

[amydunn19]

Re: New member

If she continues to struggle eating the new food, then I would encourage you to find something else or go back to what you were feeding. You don't want a food struggle at every meal - it is quite nerve racking to deal with and will be hard to regulate. Prescription or "special" food is not a requirement for diabetes. Members here have used just about everything.

Is it possible she still has some pancreatitis symptoms going on? If you try to go to dry food or any food too quickly then she might not be feeling good enough to eat. Pancreatitis is very painful and many times people try to rush them back(some vets in my opinion push them too quickly) to eating. The pancreas can become inflamed again if that is the case. Maybe she just needs something more appetizing. When my dog had flare ups of pancreatitis, I would start with boiled chicken and homemade broth, adjusted insulin downward and we gradually worked our way back to canned then canned and dry. It is a slow road.

[Debe Coetzee]

Re: New member

I apologise for the long delay in answering but I had another pet go in for surgery this morning for a mammary tumor . All went well and I am fetching her home this afternoon. I think that would be a great idea to change this thread to ' Honey the yorkiepoo ' . I will try to feed Honey her favorite meal of chicken and kibble if only just in the morning when she is not very hungry. It will be a relief to know she has something on her stomach before the insulin shot. I don't think she still has pancreatitis as she is very hungry in the evening. The vet thinks we should slowly keep increasing insulin dose every few days with frequent BG checks as she is still very high in BG levels without low dips. Hopefully we can get it under control but I don't want to rush
things.
her last glucose curve was as follows (every hour for twelve hours)at 4 u
28.3 30.2 27.6 26.2 24.4 22 19.8 19.2 20.2 20.4 21.7 26.5 27.5