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I have been lurking on your forum since Sept. after my 8.5 yr old schnauzer, Gus, was diagnosed. His diagnosis came about after he started urinating during his sleep at night. At that time, I took a urine sample to my vet, who happened to be out sick that day. Since he wasn’t there, they couldn’t run test and just gave me antibiotics. After 5 days on that, he was still urinating while sleeping, so I had to find another vet in town since my vet ended up in hospital and was going to be out for some time. It was at this visit that bloodwork & urinalysis determined high sugar, and pancreatic lipase was positive. He was kept for 4 days and started on Vetsulin. (Sugar was 684) After 4 days, and no satisfactory response on Vetsulin (with different unit amounts), this vet pretty much sent me home with no explanation of diabetes, how to administer, what to watch for, and sent home Vetsulin, syringes and new food (Hills Metabolic). If no results in couple more days, he wanted to send to specialists for expensive tests, and didn’t even want to try human insulin. And, the fact that he was trying to get him to respond asap and get stable indicated to me he didn’t know too much about diabetes. So, I was unhappy with how he handled things that I sought another opinion with the only other vet in my small town. She was very informative. She kept him Vetsulin for another 10 days and it was obvious that he wasn’t going to respond to it. We then switched to Novolin N, and food to Hills W/D. He started out on 10 units of Novolin N twice a day, and after 2 months of curves and rechecks, he is on 13 units twice a day. Three weeks ago, we thought he was finally where he needed to be and was finally down from the 500’s into the low 200’s with couple drops into the 100’s. Yeah…so I thought. That only lasted 2-3 days, and started going back up into the 300-400’s. This past week he was up in the 500’s. Yesterday, he was off the meter that it just said “hi”, then when I rechecked another hour, it was 759. To the vet we go, and it was determined he has urinary infection causing the rise in sugar. Note that there were no outward signs of anything going on (no real increase in thirst or change in behavior). So, antibiotics prescribed and will recheck in 2 weeks. She said not to worry about the hi readings right now until we get the infection cleared up (unless there is any outward signs of pain or change in behavior), and then we would see where he’s at with his numbers and possibly up the insulin even further
Here are his basic stats: Male – neutered, 8.5 yrs old minischnauzer
Food – Hills dry W/D, ½ c twice/day with 1 tblsp canned W/D; snacks (if any) frozen green bean or two – Every 12 hrs on the nose.
Starting weight 24.9 #, current weight 22 # - goal is to 20# (per vet)
Using AlphaTrak 2 meter & strips
Novolin N – 13 units twice day (starting dose 10 units twice day) (injected immediately after his 2 meals)
Curves are done at home every 10 days (after each increase in insulin dosage). The vet is given the curve every time I do one and she has been pleased with his progress. I also check morning fasting rate regularly, and sometimes mid-day after 6 or 7 hrs. We are upping his food amount to 2/3 c dry instead of ½ c as of yesterday. I keep a journal of every day's readings, injection sight location, behavior and anything else I feel may be important, and I take the journal with me each time to the vet.
I guess I finally decided to post, just to get his info on here. We’ve been at this since his diagnosis on Sept. 14, 2015. I know it takes some time for some dogs to get regulated. After 2 months, I would like to see more progress with his regulation. It may be such he has other issues going on, but for now, she feels he just needs a little more time. If it wasn't for the urinating in his sleep, I would have not known he had this issue going on.
Here are his basic stats: Male – neutered, 8.5 yrs old minischnauzer
Food – Hills dry W/D, ½ c twice/day with 1 tblsp canned W/D; snacks (if any) frozen green bean or two – Every 12 hrs on the nose.
Starting weight 24.9 #, current weight 22 # - goal is to 20# (per vet)
Using AlphaTrak 2 meter & strips
Novolin N – 13 units twice day (starting dose 10 units twice day) (injected immediately after his 2 meals)
Curves are done at home every 10 days (after each increase in insulin dosage). The vet is given the curve every time I do one and she has been pleased with his progress. I also check morning fasting rate regularly, and sometimes mid-day after 6 or 7 hrs. We are upping his food amount to 2/3 c dry instead of ½ c as of yesterday. I keep a journal of every day's readings, injection sight location, behavior and anything else I feel may be important, and I take the journal with me each time to the vet.
I guess I finally decided to post, just to get his info on here. We’ve been at this since his diagnosis on Sept. 14, 2015. I know it takes some time for some dogs to get regulated. After 2 months, I would like to see more progress with his regulation. It may be such he has other issues going on, but for now, she feels he just needs a little more time. If it wasn't for the urinating in his sleep, I would have not known he had this issue going on.
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