Silkie's Ultrasound results....

[silkiegal]

Hi...It is nice to have support here. My Silky terrier, named "Silkie" is almost 13 years old. He weighs 20 lbs. He was diagnosed last week. He was peeing a lot; long streams, drinking a lot, and one morning we awoke and found he peed all over himself, poor baby! We rushed him into vet, and got the diagnosis. his levels were at like 540!!! She put him on Humulin, 2 units, to start. She said to come back in in 2 weeks to retest his levels, and adjust as needed. He has been acting normal, not drinking/peeing as much. All seems to be going well, for now. We feed him Natural Balance wet and dry, and R/D Hills wet, mixed in, for fiber.
My husband and I were overwelmed at first, but now it is getting to be a routine with the shots. I just pray he doesn't get catarats too badly. So far he has some cloudyness normal for a dog of his age.
We give him his shot at 7 am and 7 pm. But sometimes, we feed him his evening meal around 6 pm, and give him a bitmore right before his shot. We split it up. Is this ok???
The other thing, have you noticed if you ask two vets, they say different things?? One said, Silkie needs to do a curve next week, the other says, no, just a reading. It all gets confusing! We are grateful for everday we have with Silkie, and are hopeful he will do fine! Glad your all here!

Sincerely,
Silkigal

[k9diabetes]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Hi and Welcome!

I would agree with the vet who wants to do a curve. Spot checks don't tell you very much because you don't know if the blood sugar reading you get is the lowest it will be, the highest it will be, or something in between. With a curve you get a full picture of how high and low the blood sugar is going and how well the action of the insulin matches the digestion of the food.

Would you be interested in learning to home test blood sugar so you can do a curve at home?

Especially so early in the process of regulating him, I recommend sticking strictly with 7am/7pm. Obviously things come up sometimes but the stricter you are with the timing, the faster you will be able to figure out if he is getting the right amount of insulin.

I'm glad he seems to feel better - are you monitoring him at all, such as with urine tests?

Natalie

[silkiegal]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Hi! Thank you for your response. I see what you mean about the difference bet curve and no curve.It makes perfect sense. Crazy how two different vets say two different things..With the curve, the vet says we have to leave him all day with his food, etc. Yes, we would like to test at home! I was told we can test through strips. I dont want to have to prick his lip, looks like it hurts. Can you test just with urine strips? My vet says, one step at a time. I tend to get ahead of myself. By the way, Silkie had NO ketones in his urine when tested at the vet. I want to do everything I can do to keep his diabetes under control.
And, I see people suggest using Karo syrup in emergencies, can I use pancake syrup, if I am in that situation ever??
Ok to give a few treats in middle of day?

Thank you so much!!
Silkiegal

[k9diabetes]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Pancake syrup is fine. That's what we used since our dog disliked karo.

There are virtually no nerve endings in the upper lip so it truly doesn't hurt. When you have a chance, check out the videos at www.k9diabetes.com/bgtestvideos.html. You will see several videos for each place to test. We used the lip and loved it.

Unless the snacks are vegetables or maybe pure protein like tiny bits of meat, it would be best not to give snacks between meals and injections. You can sometimes put them back in later when your dog is regulated and you know how they affect him. But for now, best to stick to an extremely rigid schedule because it eliminates variables and gives you the clearest picture of how the food and insulin are working together.

www.k9diabetes.com/insulinfood.html

Urine strips are a little better than no monitoring at all but the information is very vague and they can't tell you anything about blood sugar that falls below 180 mg/dl.

http://www.k9diabetes.com/monitoring.html

Take a look at some of these resources and then you can decide whether you want to do some monitoring and what kind.

Natalie

[silkiegal]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Ok, I watched the video, the lip thing doesn't look that bad. What brand do you reccomend?
I see what your saying about the food timing.When I give Silk a treat, it's usually lean, ground beef or turkey. He is grain fee. I suppose giving him a little of his food at 6:30 would be ok, though? Just not much earlier then that though, huh? We eat early, and dont want Silk to be left out!! I know it sounds silly. we had such a routine for over 12 years, and now he thinks we are crazy, like; why are you guys eating and i am not..I have to wait. It is all taking time to get used to. I try to absorb and learn a little every day from people like you.
I would get up at 6 am and walk him, feed him, give him his shot, but he is so lazy in the morning, hard to get up. He has had two major surgeries, in the past, so he's arthritic. Thank you so much by the way!

[silkiegal]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

I think we need to rethink how we are feeding him and when. We give him breakfast/shot no problem. Its dinner that is an issue. We have been giving him a spoonful of wet food at around 4:30 pm and the rest around 6:00 pm, then shot around 6:45, with a bit more food.
We dont like to feed him too much at once because he throws up.

What would you suggest?

Silkiegal

[CraigM]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Welcome to you and Silkigal,

Just wanted to say hello and welcome. Lots of great info on the web site and in this forum.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents about snacks. We ALMOST never give Annie anything between her meals. If we (humans) are having chicken, we MIGHT give her a piece of white meat the size of my thumb nail. I can't see how Annie could actually taste it, its so small. More often, I would save the small piece of chicken and add it to her kibble. She might get a preemptive "snack" if her blood glucose (BG) appears to be going lower than we like (the advantage of home testing with a meter). We have found that just four kibbles of her dry food will cause her BG to rise. So, with Annie any snack other than a VERY small vegi or protein would be a no-no. Of course, every dog is different and they don't all react the same.

Annie and I will be reading your adventures with Silkigal. Don't get discouraged!

[silkiegal]

Juggling injection times, anyone?

(Thanks for your help Natalie!) Anyone else having the evening shot and dinner issue? We are early dinner eaters, and we have been giving Silkie his shot at 7am/7pm...the 7pm is so late for us to eat, and we feel bad to make Silkie wait that long to eat. So, we give him a little wet food when we eat, around 6 pm, and then he gets the rest of his dinner at 6:45 pm, shot at 7 pm. Is this ok???? Thanks!

Silkiegal

[MaryLea]

Re: Juggling injection times, anyone?

Not exactly the same issue, but related. B4 diabetes, we fed Ruffles about 7-8 AM (twice, spaced about 30 mins. apart), 5 PM and 8-9 PM; times and amounts chosen because she would eat everything too fast. She received 1 cup/day divided among those feedings.

Now she receives 1/2 cup twice a day, divided into two "servings" but not very far apart, about 7-8 AM and PM. It took less than a week for her to "forget" the 5 PM feeding. She was also used to snacks, but has lost her interest in eating, so has not been looking for them lately, even when we are eating our meal. Either she's figured out she won't get a bite or she's not interested. Won't know the answer to that until she's feeling better and closer to being regulated. (That will eventually happen, right?!?)

We try to keep the feedings and insulin injections within a 11-13 hour slot from one sequence to the next. For example, she received her injection at 6:45 PM last night. Her morning feeding and injection today needed to be between 5:45 and 7:45 AM; the closer to 6:45, the better. It's best to keep the injections about 12 hours apart, but sometimes the dog does not cooperate with that schedule.

Due to an additional issue during the past week, we've had somewhat of a roller-coaster ride, too, though not nearly as wild as yours and Bob's. We both need to just hang in there until everything settles down a bit and we can tell how much the insulin is effecting the BGs. Requires patience!

[MaryLea]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Silkie is really a cute pet, er, person! Welcome to you and him.

We were feeding three times a day, with occassional treats inbetween, B4 diabetes. Since diagnosis, we've gone to two feedings/day, 12 hours apart, or as close we as can get it. It took less than a week for Ruffles to stop asking for the 5 PM feeding. She's lost her interest in eating, which is not a good thing, but it's helped us stop the treats and afternoon feeding.

The reason we were feeding three times a day was that she would eat so fast that her stomach got upset. If she really ate fast, she would throw up.

Although we're feeding twice a day, we give 1/4 cup twice at each feeding, a few minutes apart (for a total of 1/2 cup, AM and PM). So far, that's worked OK. We give the insulin immediately after she finishes the second 1/4 cup serving.

BTW, we test BG immediately B4 meals (and at mid-day if someone is home to do it). We use those readings to determine when and if to increase the insulin. We took her to the vet for a curve to see if our numbers were even in the ballpark. We use a ReliOn meter, calibrated for humans. The vet numbers were higher than ours, but the curve was the same. We anticipate taking her for another curve (after completing the extra meds) b4 increasing the insulin again.

The issue with the anal gland has caused us to not increase the insulin lately because the vet said she needed more fiber; we were told to increase the amount of w/d, so we have "held" the insulin at 6.5u for now. Advice from the good folks on this forum is to change only one thing at a time. We intended to keep upping the insulin until BG was lower, but were pre-empted by the other issue. It's been a roller-coaster ride for the last week.

Keep asking questions and reading the links on this board. The people here are great! The info is valuable.

[CarolW]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Hi Silkie, and Silkiegal,

From a fan of Terriers - love those Terriers! The Silkies are just gorgeous, and Silkie looks great, even if he is a mix!

I can't offer you anything beyond what's already been posted for you, but I can support what the others have said. Even the tiniest snack off-schedule can change the blood glucose levels and confuse the issue.

We went for several months - about four, I think, before Kumbi - and his elder companion, Kwali - started getting any treats again. poor doggies!

I felt the same way you say you feel - WHAT? Eat before I feed my DOG? NO WAY!

Yet I had to give in and do it. Kumbi (and Kwali) got used to it.

Wishing you lots of luck. I agree with the vet who wants to do the CURVE.

And a BIG fat welcome to you. I'll be here watching and cheering you on. Camellia says, I will be, too.

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:42:19 (PST)

[hiwaygal]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

I can't add anything (I'm kinda new here too)...but I wanted to welcome you (and your little dog too! lol).

[silkiegal]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Thanks Everyone! Silkie got me up to pee (and poop!) in the middle of the night, and drink lots of water. Then he seemed exhausted. But today he seems fine. Just a reminder Silkie is on 2 units of Humulin (2x day) and is 19 lbs. He was just diagnosed last week. We will talk to the vet about getting a home meter. Seems it saves trips to the vet as well. We changed his shot time to 6:30, and as all of you suggested, no snacks between meals. I am VERY bad with change. That is the hardest part of all this! I will keep you all posted.

Silkiegal

[MaryLea]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

Good morning, Silkiegal! Good to have you here.

The support and suggestions from folks here are great. I'm personally convinced their advice avoided a serious hypo incident a few weeks ago as we were new to diabetes and just blindly followed the vet's instructions. I'm not against following vet's orders, but in this case we needed to back off for our own peace of mind if nothing else.

We have found the info from home testing to be valuable, too. We give a very small treat (low sodium, low fat cheese as of now) b4 and after each test. Seems to help Ruffles "allow the invasion!" We keep a written record and refer to it often. I would be interested to know what Silkie's BG numbers are doing during the time between injections.

[SeattleCraig]

Re: Newly diagnosed, questions....

What a cutie. =)

Welcome, Silkie, and her good human.