diet help for penny

[rgardener]

My dog Penny is a 5 year old terrier, shepherd and others. She has never been sick in her life. Has been on Canidae ALS for quite some time. She is not over weight. Was diagnosed about a week ago after some strange symptoms that were atypical for diabetes (at least initially). She is on 13 units of Humulin D 2 x day, after meals. The vet has put her on Hills Science diet w/d. She is doing ok with it I guess. My problem is that the food is almost entirely corn, with so much fiber that it comes out almost bone dry. I am not a fan of corn to this excess. I would think that it would turn to sugar in her. My vet is just stuck on this food. I have replaced half of the w/d with Blue Buffalo that has a bit less than half the fiber. Waiting to see how this works. Does anyone have any diet ideas that have worked for them? Her diabetes isn't extreme. I guess I caught it in time. This food is also low in fat, which they say is important. I am thinking about putting a small amount of Omega 3 fish oil in her food. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them. I will be running whatever I do past her vet. There just has to be a better solution.

[janspack]

Re: diet help for penny

Welcome to the forum. It's a really great place to be when you're learning about diabetes.

I'm afraid I can't help you with the food as I have changed her from a raw diet to an ordinary kibble a while after she was diagnosed. I found that it was difficlt to regulate her with raw as you have to vary the food considerably to get a balanced diet.

She is now on a middle price range kibble and I have tailored the insulin to the food. Well, at least we are trying to - she's a very unstable diabetic but at least the vets can't now tell me it's because of the raw diet!

[CraigM]

Re: diet help for penny

Welcome to the forum,
I agree with your appraisal of W/D, and some of the other "diabetic" foods. We switched from a diabetic food, Royal Canin HF, to Blue Buffalo Healthy Weight. We add a bit of veggies (broccoli, green bean, cauliflower) to add a little more fiber. We also squeeze a gell cap of omega-3 every few days.

Tell us more about your pup. Do you have results of a blood glucose (BG) curve? Any other medical problems / medications?

I'm sure others will post soon.

Craig

[k9diabetes]

Re: diet help for penny

Welcome to you and Penny!

You can feed something other than the prescription diet.

Blue Buffalo's Healthy Weight or Weight Maintenance formula is one that is popular with people on the forum and many dogs have gotten good regulation with that food.

I do have to say, though, that WD often works extremely well in regulating blood sugar in diabetic dogs. The corn does not convert to an excess of sugar - it's a primary protein source in this case. I've seen many cases over the years where a dog who was switched to WD actually needed LESS insulin than they needed on another food.

Because of the way injected insulin works with dogs (they process insulins somewhat faster generally than people process the same one), they often actually need some carbohydrates in order to get a good balance of food and insulin.

Without some carbs, like with a raw diet as Tami posted, they can get large swings in blood sugar because they get a stronger action from the insulin than the digestion of mainly protein can match. So people feeding a mostly meat diet often have to supplement that diet by adding in some carbohydrates like brown rice or vegetables.

If you're testing blood sugar at home, you can experiment with some diets and see how Penny's blood sugar does with them.

You would want to hold the calorie count equal while experimenting with other foods. That will give you the best chance of having the current insulin dose match the new food given. May not be exact and you may have to adjust the insulin dose along the way too. That's why it's best to undertake this only if you are testing blood sugar at home.

Re: the insulin - is it Humulin N? I'm not familiar with a Humulin D.

Natalie

My dog Penny is a 5 year old terrier, shepherd and others. She has never been sick in her life. Has been on Canidae ALS for quite some time. She is not over weight. Was diagnosed about a week ago after some strange symptoms that were atypical for diabetes (at least initially). She is on 13 units of Humulin D 2 x day, after meals. The vet has put her on Hills Science diet w/d. She is doing ok with it I guess. My problem is that the food is almost entirely corn, with so much fiber that it comes out almost bone dry. I am not a fan of corn to this excess. I would think that it would turn to sugar in her. My vet is just stuck on this food. I have replaced half of the w/d with Blue Buffalo that has a bit less than half the fiber. Waiting to see how this works. Does anyone have any diet ideas that have worked for them? Her diabetes isn't extreme. I guess I caught it in time. This food is also low in fat, which they say is important. I am thinking about putting a small amount of Omega 3 fish oil in her food. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them. I will be running whatever I do past her vet. There just has to be a better solution.

[Patty]

Re: diet help for penny

Just wanted to say welcome to you and Penny!

[Leonardo]

Re: diet help for penny

hi everyone I am new here and just reading what everyone is writing. I never had any good results with W/D been feeding cooked food for for about 6 months and he is doing very well.

[Shellie]

Re: diet help for penny

Welcome! You've found a great place to get help!

It sounds like your pup is cooperative with eating and believe me, that's great! Mine is super picky so it comes down to what he will eat vs. not eating at all.

And it's exactly as Natalie said...you can feed a different food...you just have to adjust a bit here and there to maintain the bg levels.

Are you testing at home yet? That would be great if you can! It helps immensely in working thru different foods and levels.

Welcome again!

[jjefferjo]

Re: diet help for penny

Hi and welcome
What are you home cooking for Penny?
Jj

[SandyL]

Re: diet help for penny

Welcome to you and Penny!

My vet was big on the w/d also but I knew my picky little princess wouldn't touch it so I never even bought it But like Natalie said, with whatever you feed, if you keep the calories pretty consistent you can get some great results. My Tiggy won't touch kibble so I feed her a diet of boiled chicken and pasta with a variety of wet dog food thrown in... All the time keeping it at about 550 calories per day. Works great for us,

Sandy

[Patty]

Re: diet help for penny

hi everyone I am new here and just reading what everyone is writing. I never had any good results with W/D been feeding cooked food for for about 6 months and he is doing very well.

Hi and welcome Leonardo! I copied and moved a few posts over to a thread of your own so we can keep track of each dog better. You can find it here: http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3158

Glad to have you,
Patty

[Abby's Mom]

Re: diet help for penny

A big welcome.

When Abby was first diagnosed, the vet suggested Purina DCO, and I agree, that the corn content moved me to think of alternative diets. Alot of folks have had great results with Blue Buffalo Healthy Weight, with additional fiber added.

But, each dog is different, so what works for one may not work with another. Is Penny getting good numbers on this food?

[AZPitasmom]

Re: diet help for penny

I am not able to do the raw or cooked diet for Miss Pita - I actually use Wellness Core Grain Free Reduced Fat with her and she seems to be doing well with it - meaning she never refuses to eat it. It has 31% carbs and 8.5% fiber.
My vet was also insistent that we "needed" the W/D, but Miss Pita is a really picky eater and I KNEW it would not go well. When I brought the analysis and ingredients to the vet, she agreed that it was actually quite impressive and, since Pita eats it with no problem and her Bg has been consistent on it, it's all good.
Of course, I forgot to mention the OTHER factor, she also gets about 1/2 teaspoon of organic/natural peanut butter as a dessert (no oil, sugar or corn syrup). The vet is fine with that as well.