Do any of you have a diabetic dog?

[alfie]

My little Flopsy was diagnosed with diabetes a little over a month ago. I am doing well measuring her food, keeping her on a 500 calorie diet and giving her insulin shots twice daily. She is up to 6 units twice a day but I am pretty sure her sugar is still too high. She goes back to the vet Tuesday for a check-up so we will see.

Do you test your dog at home? Blood test? Urine test? The vet suggested I get urine test strips and I have been using those and they are testing in the high/medium range, but never at the top. I am a retired RN and understand the unreliability of urine testing, but it does let me know that she still is spilling too much glucose in her urine and that her blood glucose is probably still too high.

I did a search on the internet and found there is a blood monitoring devise calibrated for dogs. They suggested an ear prick to get the blood. Flopsy doesn't like having her ears fooled with, not sure she would tolerate that.

What have been your experiences with a diabetic dog?

Thanks, Susan

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I had a diabetic dog from 2004 until 2009. She also had Atypical

Cushings. She was on insulin twice a day and lived a normal lifespan for a Samoyed. It's been too long for me to give advice. I did home test her daily and ran curves. There has been new insulin developed since then. I'm a senior member yet, although I don't give advice, of a free forum for owners of diabetic dogs. Here's the link:
http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/

[montanacowboy]

2. Yes and it's a real struggle

My 12 yr old Aussie boy has been diabetic for three years and is up to 25 units 2x a day. It's always something with these guys, they are subject to bad stuff happening to them.

We almost lost him 2 times, he got vomiting and diarreha so bad he ended up for days in the vet getting IV's, etc. Both time cost a fortune. I feed him special Royal Canine diabetic dry food and mix in wet food made by Dave's which I order threw Chewy.

He also gets Probiotics every day sprinkled on his food.

Get the Insulin at Walmart where it is $25/bottle. He hates to have his blood done and I get it best from inside his lip.

It is a struggle every day, but he seems to be on a level playing field for the time being, but anything can upset the apple cart.

[Stonepounder]

3. We have two diabetic dogs.

We do not do any testing at home, blood or urine. We have the vet do a blood check about once a month and a fructosamine test every 6 months. Our Bosley has been diabetic for 7 years and is now 15 yo and, while he has slowed down a bit, is still going strong. Our Cooper is a rescue who came to us as a diabetic. He has been with us 3 years and is 7 yo.

As our vet (who is also diabetic) explained, people can be diabetic for 40-50 years, whereas a dog is only going to last 5-15 years (depending on their age at onset and the breed). Bosley is on 7 units 2x/day and Cooper (who is much larger) is on 15 units 2x/day. When Bosley was first diagnosed we were doing a blood test once a week until we got him stabilized and he has been on 7 units for years now.

As I know you are aware, the key is regularity. Things the vet may forget to tell you - always give the shot after you dog eats, not before. Dogs occasionally decide they aren't hungry, so if they don't eat, cut down on their shot.

Also, for those of you who are not RNs or MDs, here is something that we learned the really hard way. Insulin is measured in "units". Now, you would think that a unit is a unit, but noooooo, they have to go make it tricky. There is a unit that measures 100 Units to the Ml and a unit that measures 40 Units to the Ml. Insulin is measured in U-100 Units and the hypodermic needles used to deliver the injection are U-100 as well and they have orange caps. This is very important! U-40 needles come with red caps. We once were given U-40 needles by mistake, didn't know any better, and damn near killed our Bosley, since a U-40 unit is 2.5 bigger than a U-100 unit! Always, always check the box when you get your needles and make absolutely sure that they are U-100. (If you do forget and get home and find the needles have red instead of orange caps throw them out and go get the U-100 ones!)

If you follow the rules, are regular with meal times and insulin shots and keep their blood sugar where it should be your dog should live just as long as a non-diabetic. (The last time we had Bosley to the vet he paid us the highest compliment I could imagine. He said "Well, he's 15 and eventually something is going to take him. But it won't be diabetes.&quot

Just our experience.

[Sunlei]

4. I occasionally care for a couple of diabetic dogs for a few weeks each year.

All of them went through an adjustment period with their vets on dosage of insulin & amount of food & weight of dog. Their Vets did the blood & urine tests for them. none of the owners have medical experience.

It's great that you're an RN, your Vet should be able to help you with test procedures for dogs. They really are the same as humans.

to get pee a long stick or cane with a cup at the end, dog squats and you can catch some urine. Dogs get used to pee collection really fast.

suggest "practice" with handling the ears. maybe tiny treats as dog sits on lap and you touch stroke ears. you should be able to slip a tiny ga needle prick in and draw the tiny bit of blood needed for the monitor after some practice.

of course at the Vets they have a tech or two hold/restrain a dog and take the blood they need.

I have to say the dogs I know on insulin shots did extremely well and had years of quality of life.

In Houston area the Vets at Gulf Coast Veterinary specialists and Sunset Animal clinic were the diabetic dogs clinics.

[alfie]

5. Thanks for the replys and help

I appreciate all of your stories, especially about life expectancy. I was afraid it would shorten it a lot. She is 11 and should have a few good years left. I sure hope so.

I have been checking her urine by testing when she uses her pee pads. She usually goes outside but I keep one or two down in the house and, especially right after she eats, she will pee on the one by the back door. She has very short legs and I am not sure I can get more than a very shallow collection container under her. I will give it a try, I know that would be better than off the pee pad. I did test the pee pads with some of my own urine, poured onto the pad to be sure there weren't chemicals in the pads that would cause a false positive.

I went to the URL for the diabetic dog site and it was very useful. It had lots of suggestions about collecting blood for the tests. I take Flopsy to the vet tomorrow and will see if they think monitoring would be helpful. I have never taken care of a diabetic patient that I didn't keep a close eye on the glucose levels, so am nervous about not knowing what is going on. Even stable patients were checked 4 times a day.

Thanks again, Susan