Hi everyone!
My Pomeranian mix, Chinook, was diagnosed with diabetes a few months ago. I have been searching the web and just soaking in any information I can find about dog diabetes and what I should be doing. I’m able to email my vet and she’s been super helpful with all my questions I’ve thrown at her and answering me on stuff but I want some advice from some long time diabetic dogs.
Here is my doggies info!
Name: Chinook
Age: 11 in September
Insulin: Vetsolin 6-7 units morning and night. This was being a consistent 6 units but after adding the wet food I’m having to slowly adjust to 7 more feedings.
Diet: Purina UR(urinary stone food) with some wet food mixed in of same brand.
BG meter: Alphatrak 2 and a freestyle libre(can be super incaccurate) we test him morning and night and when needed with the alphatrak. He does great with that and he gets a tiny 2kcal treat with it.
Backstory: He has always had a lot of health issues and he has been overweight for a lot of his life. The vet ended up finding out that his thyroid has issues so I think that’s what got him overweight. He has had a lot of issues with his legs and having arthritis in all of them and just a lot of walking issues so I couldn’t even get the weight off of him to help him. Finally with diabetes, he has went from 22lbs down to 18lbs and he is SOOOOO much better. I think he’s lost so much weight because we’ve had a hard time getting it under control but and that’s why I’m wanting to change his diet because I want his numbers better and I don’t want him to lose anymore weight. He was also diagnosed with Cushings disease so he is now on meds for that too. He moves around a lot better and he is a way more happier dog. The meds he currently is on are: Gabapentin, Tramadol, Hydrocodone, Thyro tabs, Benazepril, Claritin, trilostane, Purina probiotic tablet, and glucosamine brownie thing.
I’m looking to change his diet to more diabetic friendly. He has been on Purina UR food because he has had multiple bouts of bladder stones over the past 6-8 years and so my vet wanted to just keep him on that for now(though i’m wanting to say that he may not even have the bladder stones that the urinary foods technically help with). He also had issues in the past with being extremely picky on what he eats and he was scarfing that down so we didn’t want to switch that since eating with diabetes and insulin is very important lol He got a stomach bug a little over a week ago and my vet thinks it changed his taste buds because now he won’t eat the dry food unless I mix wet in with it. Which is making his numbers go even more out of control and higher so I want to go ahead and change him while he isn’t eating the food good.
I see quite a few people on here that give homemade food and that interests me some but how do y’all figure out how much your dogs needs of each thing and how many vitamins they need? Do y’all think I should just switch him to a different dry food for now or totally change it up with some homemade? My sister has few raw food to her diabetic dog who passed years ago and he was doing amazing on that but I don’t know whether I want to start having to handle all that and being super careful with all the bacteria that comes with raw feeding.
I have to give him a lot of pills morning and night so I’ve been giving them with Milkbone pill pockets but I just made some homemade pill pockets yesterday that are 12kcal and he loves them so I’m switching to that. And the only other treat he gets is the 2kcal ones that I give for insulin readings.
Thank you guys for any info and advice y’all give! I will continue stalking the board for information lol
My Pomeranian mix, Chinook, was diagnosed with diabetes a few months ago. I have been searching the web and just soaking in any information I can find about dog diabetes and what I should be doing. I’m able to email my vet and she’s been super helpful with all my questions I’ve thrown at her and answering me on stuff but I want some advice from some long time diabetic dogs.
Here is my doggies info!
Name: Chinook
Age: 11 in September
Insulin: Vetsolin 6-7 units morning and night. This was being a consistent 6 units but after adding the wet food I’m having to slowly adjust to 7 more feedings.
Diet: Purina UR(urinary stone food) with some wet food mixed in of same brand.
BG meter: Alphatrak 2 and a freestyle libre(can be super incaccurate) we test him morning and night and when needed with the alphatrak. He does great with that and he gets a tiny 2kcal treat with it.
Backstory: He has always had a lot of health issues and he has been overweight for a lot of his life. The vet ended up finding out that his thyroid has issues so I think that’s what got him overweight. He has had a lot of issues with his legs and having arthritis in all of them and just a lot of walking issues so I couldn’t even get the weight off of him to help him. Finally with diabetes, he has went from 22lbs down to 18lbs and he is SOOOOO much better. I think he’s lost so much weight because we’ve had a hard time getting it under control but and that’s why I’m wanting to change his diet because I want his numbers better and I don’t want him to lose anymore weight. He was also diagnosed with Cushings disease so he is now on meds for that too. He moves around a lot better and he is a way more happier dog. The meds he currently is on are: Gabapentin, Tramadol, Hydrocodone, Thyro tabs, Benazepril, Claritin, trilostane, Purina probiotic tablet, and glucosamine brownie thing.
I’m looking to change his diet to more diabetic friendly. He has been on Purina UR food because he has had multiple bouts of bladder stones over the past 6-8 years and so my vet wanted to just keep him on that for now(though i’m wanting to say that he may not even have the bladder stones that the urinary foods technically help with). He also had issues in the past with being extremely picky on what he eats and he was scarfing that down so we didn’t want to switch that since eating with diabetes and insulin is very important lol He got a stomach bug a little over a week ago and my vet thinks it changed his taste buds because now he won’t eat the dry food unless I mix wet in with it. Which is making his numbers go even more out of control and higher so I want to go ahead and change him while he isn’t eating the food good.
I see quite a few people on here that give homemade food and that interests me some but how do y’all figure out how much your dogs needs of each thing and how many vitamins they need? Do y’all think I should just switch him to a different dry food for now or totally change it up with some homemade? My sister has few raw food to her diabetic dog who passed years ago and he was doing amazing on that but I don’t know whether I want to start having to handle all that and being super careful with all the bacteria that comes with raw feeding.
I have to give him a lot of pills morning and night so I’ve been giving them with Milkbone pill pockets but I just made some homemade pill pockets yesterday that are 12kcal and he loves them so I’m switching to that. And the only other treat he gets is the 2kcal ones that I give for insulin readings.
Thank you guys for any info and advice y’all give! I will continue stalking the board for information lol
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