Harley Fred received his wings today

[Ashkevron]

Hello!
Just today my 10 year old westie Harley Fred was diagnosed with diabetes. He's also got some kind of infections on top of it and is now in a sad state. He's had antibiotics prescribed for his infections, eye drops for his uveitis and had to have an IV drip today to replenish his fluids and stabilize him. All that and his high blood sugar levels are making him absolutely miserable. The vet sent us home with everything (including one insulin injection this afternoon) and prepared us to get him on a strict diet and insulin (humulin, 5 units x2) regimen starting in the morning, but he wont eat anything at all. He's supposed to start his insulin at 7 am but he hasn't eaten in two days at this point. He just keeps sleeping between constant peeing (I'm guessing from his IV drip he had this afternoon). We've tried special wet food from the vet, dry food, treats and plain boneless skinless chicken and everything just ends up dropped from his mouth. I think his blood sugar levels are still high but I don't know that its safe to give him ANY insulin at all in the morning if he absolutely wont eat. We plan to call the vet first thing in the morning to get their advice but I just feel terrible about not being able to get anything in him. It's only the 2nd injection and we already suck at handling this. Does anyone have any food recommendations or tips about getting something in him? I just want to take care of my poor baby. I know it's just the first day but I feel like things are really dire at this point and I just don't know how to help him

Thank you,
Kaylee

[Judi]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

Hi Kaylee: I'm replying so this post gets bumped up and more people see it. I've heard that dogs who don't want to eat are the hardest to regulate.

My Jenny is a pig so I'm no help there. I have seen that some folks boil some chicken or liver and drizzle the water over the dog food.

My non-diabetic dog doesn't like canned food so I have to hand feed him.

Jenny's levels were in the 500-600's for 6 weeks till we got her regulated but she wasn't as lethargic as your boy sounds. I hope it is just the dehydration

Let us know what your vet says and welcome! People with more knowledge than I have will be along

Judi

[jesse girl]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

you can give insulin without food we go a 1/4 of the normal dose

I am sure your baby wasnt eating at the vets and they were giving insulin you might want to ask your vet on how much to give for how much food is eaten

the best approach to this situation is to home test so you actually know where the numbers are and can adjust much more easily to how much food is eaten

the problem not giving any insulin is they will remain high which could suppress there apatite

welcome to both of you

[Elokin6]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

Hi Kaylee,

I hope that Harley is eating by now. If not, you may need to try syringe feeding him. I had to do that with my dog when she was refusing to eat. It's a total pain in the rear, but I had to get some food into her. You might want to check with your vet and see if that is something you should try.

Good luck. Hope the poor guy feels better soon.


~Kayla

[Ashkevron]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

Thank you for your reassurances and suggestions. We've been giving him his normal amount of insulin and trying to get really small amounts of food into him but he's been either vomiting it up or only managing really tiny amounts. At this point were giving him syringes of pedialite and a wet dog food/pedialite mix. I'm still worried about him not getting enough, but I guess it's better than nothing considering that his glucose levels must still be pretty high. I want to test his levels but I'm not sure how to go about blood testing and I haven't been able to find the urine testers yet. The walgreens and walmarts here don't carry them anymore...

[jesse girl]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

my jesse was in the same boat as your baby she was having a difficult time after she threw up in the afternoon I asked a friend of mine who was diabetic to come over with his meter and testing equipment and see if we could test jesse well it wasnt easy but we did get some blood and new what level she was at and the rest was history went down to walgreens the next day and got a meter

i looked at all the videos on testing and made up my mind on the lip I struggled to get blood and wondered why you would think the lip would be easy to get a sample it ended up the lance device i was using from my friend just wasnt getting the job done so I used the one that came with my meter and the rest was history and testing was a permanent part of her routine thankfully I believe it did save her looking back on things

she was easy to test because she was so week and by the time she got her strength back she was used to testing

my first meter from wallgreens was a true track pretty accurate and cost was reasonable but needed a large blood sample the one touch ultra is reliable and has been widely used for dogs the relion from walmart worked well for us we are using the prodigy auto code wright now because of expense because jesse needs a bit more testing than most and i do like the amount i needs for blood sample very small

so getting a meter is easy most come with a lancet device pick up 50 extra strips and some lancets with it to start if you have a friend or family member who is diabetic they may help and sometimes a vet will work with you but you can do it on your own just watch the videos on how to to it you can practice on yourself first if you want or the forum can walk you through it if you want many ways to get started

[Elokin6]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

I would suggest picking up a human glucose meter and using it to test Harley. Here's the article that talks about how to do it: http://www.k9diabetes.com/monitoring.html and helpful demonstration videos: http://www.k9diabetes.com/bgtestvideos.html

I test my dogs glucose on her lip. When I first watched the video of how to do it (Ali's video), I cracked up because I didn't think there was any way my dog would ever put up with that. She's always been all "I'm a pug!!!! Don't mess with my face!!!!" but, surprisingly, she tolerates it very well.

When my Gidget wasn't wanting to eat, my vet suggested that I feed her small amounts every 3 hours instead of trying to get her to eat only twice a day. Maybe this strategy would work for Harley.

[CarolW]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

I really like the idea of feeding very small amounts every few hours, for now, till Harley Fred gets his appetite back. Possibly you can still give some insulin, in small doses, twice a day. Maybe you could talk this over with your vet, and maybe others here will have more ideas about it.
Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:14:15 (PDT)

[Patty]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

Walmart still carries the ketodiastix but they often don't have them in stock. Just ask the pharmacy to order some. I argued with one pharmacy until they finally looked them up in the computer and found them . They were in the next day.

[Patty]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

Kaylee,
I had a chance to go back and read through Harley Fred's thread.

With the way Harley's feeling and the IV drip he was on, I'm wondering if your vet mentioned anything about ketones? http://diabetesindogs.wikia.com/wiki/Ketones

This is a serious situation that would require fluids to balance his electrolytes and perhaps even some faster acting insulin to bring his blood sugar down.

How much does Harley Fred weigh? As a general rule, most dogs can have about 1/4 of their usual dose without food to meet the body's basic needs.

I too am worried about Harley. Let us know whether he was showing ketones.

Patty

[farrwf]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

Thank you for your reassurances and suggestions. I want to test his levels but I'm not sure how to go about blood testing and I haven't been able to find the urine testers yet. The walgreens and walmarts here don't carry them anymore...

I know Walmart doesn't carry them, but Walgreen's does. I just bought some. Walmart just carries the Relion Ketone Test Strips, nothing for testing for sugar in the urine.

Check product availability at a Walgreens near you.

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/dia...od4782-product






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[k9diabetes]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

I'm worried too about ketones and pancreatitis and what may be causing Harley Fred to feel so poorly. I hope that you got in touch with the vet and he was seen.

Please let us know how he is doing.

Natalie

[Ashkevron]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

We've been giving him that wet food/pedialite mixture the past two days with a syringe, and while he does seem a little perkier, he's still really weak and lethargic and refusing to eat on his own. He often trembles and has rapid breathing off and on now as well. I think the other infections are really bothering him as well. He sneezed pretty hard earlier and nearly toppled right over. We've also gotten a blood meter and his levels first started at 290 (the first test) but now are fluctuating between 170-230.

When he was diagnosed a few days ago he also had ketoacidosis and infection from his previously untreated diabetes. It all just got so bad suddenly just prior to his diagnosis. We plan to call the vet yet again in the morning to see what they recommend about his continued loss of appetite and trembling

Thankfully he is getting a little crabby from all this poking and prodding and medications and syringe feeding, which makes me feel better. He's lost a good amount of weight though. A few days ago he was around 21 pounds but I'd bet he's lost a couple since then.

[jesse girl]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

well your doing what needs to be done thats great your testing and the numbers you have taken are very good i would not raise the dose at this point stay the coarse your doing a fantastic job for your baby

[k9diabetes]

Re: Harley Fred joins the Diabetes Club..

I think this is potentially a crisis situation. Please have him seen tomorrow as soon as possible and if the vet refuses, I would take him to an emergency hospital.

Ketoacidosis is a distinct possibility, as is pancreatitis and both are life-threatening conditions.

Natalie