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[Cody]

Cody...my pup, has been insulin dependent about 13 months now...we've yet to get good regulation. Vet is considering changing from NPH to a longer acting insulin...any thoughts out there? If any one is using a meter or test stripes....any and all advice is welcomed...as this will be new to us. thanks...irene, cody's mom

[HugosMom]

Welcome Irene and Cody! :) I'm sure someone with more experience will jump in shortly to answer your insulin question. As for meters and strips, I use the OneTouch Ultra mini with the same strips as recommended by my vet and also based on the info on this forum... check out the Blood Glucose Testing, Meters and Urine Testing section of the main forum page. There is a study of 6 meters under Meters if you scroll down a bit. Sorry, not sure how to link to that page from here.

[CarolW]

Hi Irene and Cody,

Kumbi and I send you large greetings, and we're honored that you've joined us here.

Do have a look around the various threads on the forum. You'll find lots and lots of information of the sort that should be very useful to you. Take your time exploring and reading. As you continue to read, I think you'll find you begin to catch on very nicely!

This is the best-organized, most responsible, forum I know, and I've been on a lot of forums on canine diabetes, so you and Cody should do very well with the assistance you can find here.

We can't really answer your questions in any detail at all, till you give us more information.

Could you, for instance, tell us:

How old is Cody (approximately if you don't have an exact date)?

Is Cody male or female? Neutered? Spayed?

How much does Cody weigh?

What insulin, specifically, is Cody on? Were there any changes of insulin along the way? If so, when did the change occur?

What dose did Cody begin with, and what is the current dose? And how long has Cody been ON the current dose? (Please also give frequency of injections.)

What is Cody eating, how often, and how much?

Here is a really important one: I'm assuming you're not yourself measuring Cody's blood glucose levels. Can you get the numbers from your vet that show, say, the last couple of curve tests - assuming your vet ran some! - and then post those numbers here?

That will give us some stuff to work with, to help you out.

I believe you will thoroughly ENJOY this forum, and that's part of the purpose. The more we enjoy our exchanges here, the better we learn. There is a fabulous sense of community here; that is very supportive, and helps enhance the information we exchange.

Looking forward to your next report!

Kumbi says hi to Cody!

Sat, 15 May 2010 16:46:42

[k9diabetes]

Hi Irene,

Welcome to you and Cody.

How has Cody's blood sugar been monitored so far?

If he's had any curves done by the vet, it would be great if you could get copies of those and post them here.

Sometimes things can be tweaked to fix regulation without changing insulins, depending on exactly what is happening.

A curve is the way to find out what changes are needed as they tell you whether his food and insulin are well balanced and whether there are possibly duration problems or rebound going on. Or rapid metabolism.

Longer acting insulins are available but they are a bit of a crapshoot for whether they will work or not. Lantus is one - works well in some dogs and doesn't work well at all in others. Levemir is new and mostly untried but is very strong so sometimes dosing is a problem. ProZinc is another new one that I don't think has been tried much at all yet.

That's why I would really like to see what's been going on with Cody to determine exactly what the problems in regulating are.

So tell us more please! :)

Natalie