Anyone with a diabetic dog??

[C.Noble]

My female pit bull is 9 and a half years old. The last few days she hasn't been doing well, so my wife took her to the vet today. Wanted her in for surgery immediately due to what they thought was a uterine infection and lumps they saw on an xray. Told us 60% chance of loving through it. Tense few hours we had. Finally got the call that she is awake. They told us that my big dog is diabetic. I guess the next 24 hours are going to be a big deal for her while she is recovering at the vets office. So the question, does anyone here have have a diabetic dog and how do you manage it. Obviously with insulin, but aside from that

[Smokinyotes]

When I was a kid my dog got diabetes . I remember dad giving her a needle of insulin everyday. Eventually she went blind and died after about 2 years.

[C.Noble]

2 extra years witg this dog would be worth it

[2 Tollers]

I know a couple of people that have diabetic dogs. They give shots every day and I am not sure why but both lost their eyesight fairly soon after the diagnosis. That might be something to ask on.

One has trained their dog to follow a cane that they drag. They dog has learned to take walks following the noise of the cane dragging on the trail. Pretty impressive.

[mds694]

Diabetics are very prone to developing cataracts hence the blindness others mentioned. Twice a day injections of insulin are what most dogs will require. Some regulate quickly, others takes a bit to find the right dose and type of insulin. It’s certainly a commitment and follow up appointments are a must to ensure dosing is adequate. Assuming no other health problems once things are under control many dogs can go on to live relatively normal lives.

Was blood work done prior to the surgery?? A sick intact female definitely warrants concern for pyometra (uterine infection) but it sounds like your girl has a few things going on that should have been picked up in routine screening prior to.

[C.Noble]

Yeah, she has had some allergy issues for a while and spent quite a bit of time with the vet. Went through blood work history with the vet on the phone today and there were no markers that were noticeable apparently. Just happy my girl is doing ok.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Our last dog was diabetic... She was a medium sized dog, Shih Tzu crossed with a naughty neighbour dog. Can't remember how long she was on insulin, but it was 5+ years. If they start to lose their appetite it can be difficult to know whether or not to give them insulin (she hated having her blood sugar checked). The kids used to get down on all fours and pretend they were going to eat her food so she would eat (she figured they were just puppies like her). The hardest part was when she went blind. She still loved to fetch and go for walks, but she would walk into things (sometimes very immovable things). On the other hand, she learned to swim and fetch sticks from the water only a couple years before she died (who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?).

We were lucky that she took to a human insulin, so it was relatively inexpensive.

Best of luck.

ARG

[Badgerbadger]

My GF had a diabetic Jack Russel cross. It wasn't getting enough exercise.

Insulin and diabetic diet helped, but when she moved in with me the Jack would run with the big dogs on my hobby farm, lost a ton of weight, fought 2 coyotes, and lived to be 14.

So, diet and exercise and insulin and your dog should lead a pretty normal doggie life.

[silverdoctor]

Between allergy issues and diabetes, would you consider feeding raw diet?

[C.Noble]

At this point I would consider anything. She has been an amazing dog

[mds694]

Hope she’s doing better today. Seems a bit strange they’d miss a diabetes diagnosis unless there were multiple things going on or they didn’t run blood work before going to surgery. Only reason for a dog to be majorly ill from diabetes would be if she had DKA.

[Greywynd]

A friend has a border collie thatbis diabetic. She uses the glucuse monitor to check her blood sugar, does the poke with the lancet in her gums.

[silverdoctor]

Originally Posted by C.Noble

At this point I would consider anything. She has been an amazing dog

Raw would be my first step, definitely will help with any food allergies too. Commercial dog food has alot of sugar, starches carbs etc that dogs really don't need. Raw allows full control of diet, and that's what you really need at the moment. Mine is raw fed, rarely sees sugars and carbs and still has lots of energy.

Look at the big recall going on at the moment - people are wondering how phenobarbital gets into the foot. It's from euthanized animals, dogs and cats from vets, horses etc. Yes, they don't care what your dog eats.

[mds694]

The report is actually regarding pentobarbital not phenobarbital. And it’s not from dogs and cats regardless of what the fear mongers say. Horses and cattle possibly. And as far as I’m aware the FDA hasn’t actually officially pulled anything off the shelves at this point. Home COOKED diets are ok but ensure you consult with reliable trained certified nutritional sources before going full speed ahead. Throwing some steak at her is not a well balanced diet regardless of her medical status. And it’s an major additional commitment beyond managing her health conditions. But I digress.

[Fisherpeak]

My hound (redbonexWalker) Addisons deasese , ardrenal gland failing. 6 pills every day or she just tips over and dies after a few days. $1200 a year to keep her. She is a high strung azzhead, but I love her too much to denie her the meds. Although if she craps on the floor one more time..........

[Northern Bob]

Last year my yellow lab Katie woke up thirsty and a bit off. I took her to the vet and her blood sugar was off the charts. A couple of sets of blood work and she was diagnosed as diabetic. The Vet suggested I leave her with him while he gave her injections of insulin and monitored her blood sugar to determine the daily amount she needed to control it. Twice daily injections for the rest of her life, but he said she should have a fairly normal life once under control. You do what you have to. It didn't work out that way. For three days and nights he gave her insulin and retested every two hours. No amount would bring her blood sugar down to even a measurable amount. The third day and night was trying the human version which can sometimes work when the canine version won't. Still off the monitor's scale. He said the answer had to be a tumor that was completely disrupting the insulin process. The only chance would be a 8 hour drive to a vet that could do the operation to find and remove the tumor, but I think both of us knew she was too weak to survive the drive, much less the operation. I had to let her go. Trying to get the right dose was hard on her. In hindsight I feel selfish for holding her back.

[C.Noble]

I pray that's not the case. Yesterday before surgery her sugars were 32. 2 shots of long acting insulin and after rhe stress of surgery her sugars were 38. He told my wife she was doing much better with the IV in her, and is going to try fast acting insulin in bloodstream and monitor

[Northern Bob]

Good luck. I wish you both the best.

[C.Noble]

She's gone.

[Habfan]

So sorry !

[jpohlic]

Sorry to hear that she’s gone. We had a dog with diabetes insipidus, he didn’t need insulin but was on daily meds and it definitely negatively affected his life. Our oldest daughter is type 1 diabetic so we know how hard it can be dealing with blood sugar levels.