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Snickers, a Skye Terrier mix, was part of a litter of puppies that was left at a shelter in the early winter of 2000 when they were only several weeks old. Shy and reserved she wouldn't even bark for the first month or so. Eventually her true terrier colors emerged and she grew into a beautiful dog.
Fast forward 15 years. She is doing pretty well for her age with some loss of hearing and vision (not cataracts). She tore her acl in 2010 and that slowed her down a little but not too bad. She walks everyday no matter what the weather.
Then in November 2015 she got a uti. She didn't completely recover from that and that's when she got very sick very fast and was diagnosed with diabetes in early December. Her numbers (pretty much everything they tested) were very bad and the vet felt the only way she might recover would be with round the clock care. Unfortunately my vet and does not do overnight supervision so we would have had to go to an emergency clinic for proper care.
He warned us about the costs to treat her and honestly felt that at her age, there was probably another underlying problem, like cancer, that was not diagnosed and we could spend a lot of money and still lose her.
We opted to treat Snickers on an outpatient basis, and honestly I was just hoping to keep her alive long enough for my son to finish his finals and make it home to say goodbye to her. She was vomiting, not eating, had lost a lot of weight and was leaking urine at night. Needless to say there were lots of tears, lots of prayers.
Well, Snickers fooled us all and has recovered quite nicely, with no small thanks to this forum. It's not totally smooth sailing but after a bumpy start her numbers are settling down and we have gone almost a month without another uti.
One of our biggest challenges is getting Snickers to eat, especially on a schedule, especially in the morning. We were given an appetite stimulant to use but I only like to give it to her when she won't eat, not as a default, partly to monitor how she is feeling.
Snickers is currently about 35 lbs, takes 11 units of Novolin N twice a day, and uses a Reli On human meter for testing. I used to feed her a rotation of grain free food (I would change food often as she becomes bored with her food and changing brands did not seem to cause her any distress) but now I suspect those that contain potatoes cause her problems so I'm down to only to varieties at this point - one from Earthborn and one from Natural Balance. She also gets a glucosamine treat, a collagen pill and d-mannose.
Again, I can't stress enough how helpful everyone here has been and how often I've used the links to videos (bg testing here's looking at you). At 15, Snickers has a limited time left and making everything as painless and stress free as possible can only enhance her quality of life. Thank you so much for everything!
Fast forward 15 years. She is doing pretty well for her age with some loss of hearing and vision (not cataracts). She tore her acl in 2010 and that slowed her down a little but not too bad. She walks everyday no matter what the weather.
Then in November 2015 she got a uti. She didn't completely recover from that and that's when she got very sick very fast and was diagnosed with diabetes in early December. Her numbers (pretty much everything they tested) were very bad and the vet felt the only way she might recover would be with round the clock care. Unfortunately my vet and does not do overnight supervision so we would have had to go to an emergency clinic for proper care.
He warned us about the costs to treat her and honestly felt that at her age, there was probably another underlying problem, like cancer, that was not diagnosed and we could spend a lot of money and still lose her.
We opted to treat Snickers on an outpatient basis, and honestly I was just hoping to keep her alive long enough for my son to finish his finals and make it home to say goodbye to her. She was vomiting, not eating, had lost a lot of weight and was leaking urine at night. Needless to say there were lots of tears, lots of prayers.
Well, Snickers fooled us all and has recovered quite nicely, with no small thanks to this forum. It's not totally smooth sailing but after a bumpy start her numbers are settling down and we have gone almost a month without another uti.
One of our biggest challenges is getting Snickers to eat, especially on a schedule, especially in the morning. We were given an appetite stimulant to use but I only like to give it to her when she won't eat, not as a default, partly to monitor how she is feeling.
Snickers is currently about 35 lbs, takes 11 units of Novolin N twice a day, and uses a Reli On human meter for testing. I used to feed her a rotation of grain free food (I would change food often as she becomes bored with her food and changing brands did not seem to cause her any distress) but now I suspect those that contain potatoes cause her problems so I'm down to only to varieties at this point - one from Earthborn and one from Natural Balance. She also gets a glucosamine treat, a collagen pill and d-mannose.
Again, I can't stress enough how helpful everyone here has been and how often I've used the links to videos (bg testing here's looking at you). At 15, Snickers has a limited time left and making everything as painless and stress free as possible can only enhance her quality of life. Thank you so much for everything!