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Bogie - miniature schnauzer

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  • #1

    Bogie - miniature schnauzer

    Hi, my name is Dawn and I am new to your forum and my dog Bogie is a 7 year old miniature schnauzer he was just diagnosed last week with diabetes. He started loosing weight over a period of time and at first I thought it was just increased activity but then it continued. I took him into the vet and they initially found a broken molar in the back of his mouth… So he was scheduled for surgery that day and had his blood drawn (which I have done every 6 months). The surgery went well and he came home that evening. The next day he started consuming large amounts of water and waking me up during the night to go out and pee which wasn’t like him. The blood work came back ok the sugar level was slightly elevated but the vet said that it most likely stress related. It wasn’t until I told her that he started to drink excessively and urinate frequently and his appetite had increased more than normal. I was going to have some different test run to find out the source of the weight loss but before we left she dipped his urine and his BG levels were as high as they could go on the strip… That is when she found the answer to the weight loss and other symptoms. His diet was changed to hill’s prescription W/D and he was started on Levemir Insulin 1 unit 2 times a day. The following day his water consumption decreased as did his need to urinate… Today his appetite is returning closer to normal. The Diastix last night had virtually no color but this morning it was high again...
    I feed him every 12 hours give or take 15 min and he eats very well and he is very cooperative when I give him his injection. I take him in on Sept 4th when they will keep him for the day and watch his blood sugar levels and regulate as needed.
    I am sure I will have many questions as time goes by but I have been reading on your forum and have found a lot of good information.
    I do have one question??? I was out in my garage and saw him knock the lid off of the dog food container, I got to him quickly but he did manage to grab a very small mouth full of kibbles. Is this going to cause a problem?? I know he isn’t suppose to have anything between meals. He seems fine and this was about 45 min ago.
    I have since moved the container to the shelf… Lesson learned!!
    Thank you for your time and please forgive my grammar as it wasn’t my best subject in school
    Dawn
    Bogie is a 8 year old 24 pound Miniture Schnauzer, Dx on 08/24/12. Home cooked diet formulated by Just Food For Dogs, Switching from Levemir to Vetsulin.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

    hi and welcome

    i would not worry to much about the extra food not much you can do about it jesse at times will grab things on her walks i just give her that look and say oh jesse and try to avoid those things the best we can

    testing blood sugar at home would be a big plus most on the forum have learned how and think of it as a valuable tool to the management of this disease me and jesse started within the first week she was very sick and i was worried about her so we learned very quickly after every test she gives me a lick and wags her tail during shots i cant ask for a better patient such a funny girl

    levemir insulin seems to be more accepted and many dogs seems to do well on it but its potency is 4 times stronger than nph which many of us still dont use just for that reason so raising the dose in much smaller increments compared what you hear on the forum using nph

    i would think you would not raise more than a quarter unit at a time so being fairly precise with dosing is important which again home testing will greatly improve safety for dosing this type of insulin
    Last edited by jesse girl; 08-26-2012, 01:05 PM.
    Jesse-26 lbs - 16.5 years old ,11 years diabetic, one meal a day homemade and a vitabone snack . 3 shots of Novolin( under the Relion name ) a day . Total insulin for a 24 hour period is 6.5 units of NPH insulin .
    Jesse earned her wings on 6/21/2021

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    • #3
      Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

      Thank you for your quick response I would like to do home blood testing and was going to ask my vet about it when I go in again. I have watched videos of people testing there dogs on the lip and all the dogs seem fine with it. Is it as easy as giving them the insulin shots (Bogie acts as if he doesn't feel anything) or is there some pain involved at first? I guess I just think of the lip as a sensitive area...
      I found a couple of threads on the forum relating to testing kits but I was wondering about the lance... Is it better to use an auto inject lance or just one by itself? This is all very new to me and I really do appreciate any information I can get.
      Thanks again.
      Bogie is a 8 year old 24 pound Miniture Schnauzer, Dx on 08/24/12. Home cooked diet formulated by Just Food For Dogs, Switching from Levemir to Vetsulin.

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      • #4
        Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

        Hi there! I just wanted to say welcome to you and Bogie!

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        • #5
          Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

          you can can do some dry runs to see how things go lifting up the lip and rubbing you finger across it above the canine tooth a few times a day is helpful then you can practice with a pen casing or something like that to represent a lance device place it on the inner lip just above the canine tooth with my jesse i can see the many capillaries there and getting blood there has been quite easy of coarse it was a little challenging at the beginning

          practice gets everyone more comfortable no pressur on either side

          jesse feels no pain we do use a lance device some devices seem to have more action than others and that can startle a dog so dry runs with the device is helpful also some do just use the lance and of coarse there is no sound from that to startle

          so practice practice practice and you dont need a meter to do that if the lip is a problem there are other locations and others can give there input on that
          Jesse-26 lbs - 16.5 years old ,11 years diabetic, one meal a day homemade and a vitabone snack . 3 shots of Novolin( under the Relion name ) a day . Total insulin for a 24 hour period is 6.5 units of NPH insulin .
          Jesse earned her wings on 6/21/2021

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

            Wanted to add my welcome!

            I think to use, or not use, a lancing device is personal preference and what you feel comfortable with. I tested by hand, no device for years. Then about three months ago I tried a device that came packaged with a new meter. We are now using the device on Annie's ear. There may be some locations, like on the foot pads / elbow (sorry, don't recall the correct names) that might be easier to lance without the device, but I've never tested anywhere other than the ear.

            Jesse Girl mentioned doing dry runs for practice, great idea! Lots of praise and hugs after the testing. Annie is a ball chaser, so we play ball a few moments after a test as playtime that she looks forward to.
            Annie was an 18 pound Lhasa Apso that crossed the rainbow bridge on 10-5-17. She was nearly 17 years old and diabetic for 9½ years.

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            • #7
              Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

              Thanks Everyone for the warm welcomes!!!
              I was playing around with Bogie and lifted his lip rubbed it and placed a pen casing there and he didn't think twice about it We will keep practicing and after I chat with my vet to see which unit she recommends I will purchase it. I was reading on the forum and so many have different preferences... I looked on Amazon at a few and saw the Alphatrak 2 the initial cost isn't so bad it was the cost of the strips that you have to buy monthly $68.00 (Ouch) then others said some made for humans wouldn't read accurately on dogs.
              I'm wondering which meters you guys have had the best results with and can they be calibrated if they need to be?
              Could you guys give me your opinions and let me know of the one's you use?? I was looking for a thread that was specific to BG meters but didn't locate one. If there is one could someone direct me to it please?
              Thanks again for all of your help.
              Bogie is a 8 year old 24 pound Miniture Schnauzer, Dx on 08/24/12. Home cooked diet formulated by Just Food For Dogs, Switching from Levemir to Vetsulin.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

                i think the way craig does it is quite efficient he has the alpha trak as his comparison meter for accuracy and uses his walmart confirm from relion (i believe thats how he does it ) as the meter he uses from day to day because its much cheaper to operate and you dont want to restrict testing because of cost i have used the meter and quite satisfied with its consistency which is what you look for if it runs a little higher or lower than an alpha trak just so its mostly in that same range

                many like the one touch ultra and has a good track record i have used it and was quite close in comparison to the walmart relion for jesse

                we use the prodigy auto code we started using this meter because it was very cheap to buy strips off ebay and surprising the reading have been very consistent for jesse but jesse is the only one i know using it so it really has no track record

                a human meter whether you use it as a backup or you primary meter and using an alpha trak for comparison it up to you and it depends what you can afford but its nice there are inexpensive options that do work

                with any meter its nice to compare at the vets at different levels if that is possible say like 400s ,300s, 200s. and 100s but that maybe difficult to do but most meters are more accurate at the lower range and can be quite a bit off in the higher if comparing at the vet it would be preferable to compare with a lab anylizer
                Jesse-26 lbs - 16.5 years old ,11 years diabetic, one meal a day homemade and a vitabone snack . 3 shots of Novolin( under the Relion name ) a day . Total insulin for a 24 hour period is 6.5 units of NPH insulin .
                Jesse earned her wings on 6/21/2021

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

                  As Jesse Girl said, I have the AlphaTrak2 and several less expensive meters. Whenever I get a new meter, I use both meters on the same blood droplet for several days and compare the percentage difference. Several of us are doing this type of side-by-side comparison with the AlphaTrak2.

                  Probably the lowest Cost system would be the new Walmart ReliOn Prime: Less than $17 for the meter, and about 18 cents per strip.

                  http://www.relion.com/diabetes/blood...g/relion-prime

                  Every week or two i'll compare the Prime to the AlphaTrak2.
                  Annie was an 18 pound Lhasa Apso that crossed the rainbow bridge on 10-5-17. She was nearly 17 years old and diabetic for 9½ years.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

                    Hello and welcome.

                    I also have multiple meters and like Craig use the Prime for most of the tests. If I get a lowish reading I compare it with the Alpha Track.

                    I also use Levemir with my dog. She has only just been increased from a .4 to a .5 dose. So I would also suggest doing the increases in very small doses.

                    How much does your dog weigh? Ruby weighs 19#. Bogie doesn't seem that big in his picture. Of course all dogs are different and take different doses, but knowing what I know now I would want to be testing a dog, especially on levemir. I don't mean to scare you, but some dogs need a large dose and some dogs need a small dose. The best vet's can do in the beginning is pick somewhere from the range of starting doses. I am wondering if the presence of the ketones again might indicate that he dropped too low and then shot up in response.

                    I don't have any personal experience with ketones, but I believe when the ketones are in the high range it is an emergency situation. Last time he was high what did the vet do? Or did they talk to you about what to do if you saw them again? At the least I would be pushing fluids to help flush out the ketones. You can add tuna juice to the water to encourage them to drink and it shouldn't have that much affect on the bgs.

                    I hope this helps...it can be pretty overwhelming in the beginning.
                    Tara in honor of Ruby.
                    She was a courageous Boston Terrier who marched right on through diabetes, megaesophagus, and EPI until 14.
                    Lucky for both of us we found each other. I'd do it all again girly.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

                      Hi, Bogie currently weighs 23 pounds prior to his weight loss he weighed 25 pounds. My vet told me it would take several days for the color on the diastix to change. His blood sugar on his blood panel was 200 nine days ago... I'm going to call her tomorrow and just touch base about how this weekend went and ask about the home bg testing. I've been keeping very close track of his diastic readings, food etc for my vet to look over. He goes into the vet for the day on the 4th for blood glucose testing and possible insulin increase. I have heard that the insulin has to be increased slowly... So I am going to watch ever so closely when she tells me too.
                      Thank you for your help.
                      Bogie is a 8 year old 24 pound Miniture Schnauzer, Dx on 08/24/12. Home cooked diet formulated by Just Food For Dogs, Switching from Levemir to Vetsulin.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

                        Hi Everyone,
                        Just an update... I ordered the Alphatrak2 off of ebay today for a great price and it should arrive here Thursday or Friday. I talked to my vet today and she was so happy to hear that I wanted to do my blood sugar testing here at home... They also use the Alphatrak2 so that was a deciding factor in my purchase.
                        She corrected me when I asked her about the keto stick being so high for so long... It's not a keto stick it's a blood sugar test strip for urine... Bad me
                        I was thankful to hear that it wasn't high ketones. She said he was tested for those in the office the other day and they were ok.
                        On a good note Bogie gained back 3oz this morning... Yea.. Happy, Happy Joy Dance
                        He still looks for all of those bad treats he got during the day but I think he is starting to get use to the idea that they are not going to be around anymore.
                        I'll let you all know how it goes when we start our blood glucose testing... The vet said she would show me how if I wanted to bring the kit up when it arrived... Of course I said yes I would be there.
                        You guys have been so much help and I am so grateful I have everyone here to bounce questions off of or just vent to.
                        Chat with ya all soon
                        Bogie is a 8 year old 24 pound Miniture Schnauzer, Dx on 08/24/12. Home cooked diet formulated by Just Food For Dogs, Switching from Levemir to Vetsulin.

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

                          Great news! Nice to have the vet giving training, wish more would do that! There are several places to get AlphaTrak2 test strips, and you might want to research each time you buy because there are sometimes price changes. This is where I've been buying my AT2 strips:

                          http://search.americandiabeteswholes...rds=alphatrak2
                          Annie was an 18 pound Lhasa Apso that crossed the rainbow bridge on 10-5-17. She was nearly 17 years old and diabetic for 9½ years.

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                          • #14
                            Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

                            Thank you for the link to the wholesale site... That's the best price I've seen yet. Can you recommend any good books that can explain canine diabetes to a newby like me?
                            Bogie is a 8 year old 24 pound Miniture Schnauzer, Dx on 08/24/12. Home cooked diet formulated by Just Food For Dogs, Switching from Levemir to Vetsulin.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: New to forum and newly diagnosed

                              Originally posted by BogiesMom View Post
                              Can you recommend any good books that can explain canine diabetes to a newby like me?
                              Good question! No, I don't. I just did a search and came up with this listing on Amazon. Don't know the quality:

                              http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Diet-Dise.../dp/0967225329
                              Annie was an 18 pound Lhasa Apso that crossed the rainbow bridge on 10-5-17. She was nearly 17 years old and diabetic for 9½ years.

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