times

[nfjchester]

is everyone religous about giving the injections evry 12 hours no give or take ? i am and 8 pm but on the days i work is it okay to give it a 6 am and 6 pm and go back to th 8 schedual when i dont work ? i hope that doesnt sound confusing this is the best i can describe it . it would be 2 days one week and 3 days the next week and start over again . chester gets 3 units in am and pm

[CarolW]

Hi.

Consistency in timing is your friend. A two-hour difference could upset your dog's physiology in the first place, and risk some overlap in the second, or leave the dog too long without insulin in the third!

Probably an HOUR would be okay, but two might be asking for trouble.

Are you needing more sleep on days you don't "work" (outside the home; haha!)

YOUR body could learn to adapt if you stayed on the same schedule every day. But if you're consistently short of sleep on work-days, well, I'd understand if you shifted by an hour on days you're home.

Are you testing glucose levels (blood glucose levels, with a glucometer)? If not, and you want to make that kind of change (say, one hour, rather than two), I'd suggest learning to do the testing; then you have a way to check to find out how schedule changes are affecting your dog.

With Kumbi, I stuck religiously to schedule, feeding at 6:30 a.m. and p.m., and injecting at 7 a.m. and p.m. My vet commented on how well the consistency helped him along, and on how well he did as a result.

Now that Kumbi has died - not of diabetes, of COURSE, but of cancer, and I'm looking for a new companion dog, believe it or not, I'll be changing my feeding schedules. I won't take another diabetic dog if I can help it, as it's big pressure on my tiny budget, but if my new dog turns up with diabetes, of COURSE I'll cope!

And with the new dog (heaven help me; my search hasn't paid off yet), I'm going to feed at 6 a.m. and p.m. I can do that because I'm retired! Don't go out to work. Sometimes I don't feel like getting up that early, but I do find my body adapts, if I keep a consistent schedule.

The main reason I plan to do that is, I found it SO convenient for any medication that must be given 12 hours apart, with food - or - without food! Never has it been so easy to medicate a dog properly! (That's why I plan the 12-hour interval.)

I'd surely like to see what others have to say about timing! I expect you'll get some other replies!
Tue, 3 Aug 2010 19:31:59 (PDT)

[BestBuddy]

Ditto Carol.

I have always believed that the reason I was able to have my Buddy for so many more years after being diagnosed was consistency. Our house ran on the 12 hour schedule and I think we may have only varied a couple of times because of commitments but it was a 6am and 6pm routine.

We needed the early time because of work and sometimes on the weekends when we wanted a little sleep in I got up and fed and injected and 15 mins later I was back in bed for a bit longer.

Jenny

[Jaye]

I'm religious about injection/feeding times, but I'll admit....it's SO difficult for me! I am, by nature, a night owl and Robbie's schedule is: BG test at 5:00 a.m., eat by 5:15, injection by 5:30. I have a diabetic cat on the same schedule.

Pulling myself out of bed during the school year (I'm a teacher) isn't that bad, but in the summer.... *groan* Even with going back to bed afterward, I'm perpetually tired.

[k9diabetes]

Just a side note... I've been debating whether to merge your questions into one thread. For now, I think I'll leave them separate but may eventually join them up.

We typically do one thread per dog - it keeps all of the history together in one place and people are used to checking any new thread to see what's happening at the moment so they will see your questions even if there isn't a new title to the thread to point to it.

...

And by the way, if you haven't seen Chester, check out his pictures in the photo album. A very handsome boy!

Natalie

[eileen]

I must say that I attribute alot of Mildred's 6 years as a diabetic to consistency with feedings as well as the timing of her insulin injections.

So yes, I will say that I have always strictly adhered to the 12 hour interval between injections as it is very important.

As Carol points out, not being on a 12 hour schedule could lead to insulin overlap or a period without which will affect the regulation of the dog.

I think with an hour difference you may be able to get by, but 2 hours could really throw things off.

If you aren't now I would highly recommend that you learn how to blood test your dog as this will help in seeing how any difference is affecting Chester.

I work out of my home but rain or shine my day begins at 5a/m so to feed and inject by 5:30.

[Noodle]

Is there any way you could adjust the schedule so you have a 1 hour difference instead of 2? It's still not ideal, but you'd have a better shot at less problems.

I stick to the 12 hour schedule with Noodle. We occasionally wobble by half an hour, but not very often. Our first vet told us we could vary it by an hour and that, even if something happened that prevented us from injecting him on time for 3 hours, he would still be fine - not great, but ok. We had a few instances early on (while we were trying to figure out a doable schedule) when he wasn't injected within that hour window and his BG was a mess. It became very apparent over time that his numbers are not stable unless we inject within a half hour window at most.

A little while back, I had an appt in the morning and my husband was supposed to be injecting him. He shut his alarm off, went back to sleep, and didn't inject him until almost 2 1/2 hours later. It threw his BG out of whack and it took me 3 days to get him back to normal...and to stop being annoyed with my husband, lol. :mad:

The worst times for me are when I'm sick and the last thing I want to do is haul my feverish, coughing, runny nosed, hiney out of bed to jab the dog, lol. Yesterday I had an attack of Meniere's and that was interesting! It makes you very dizzy and nauseous...not fun. Usually I just take medicine and stay in bed until it passes, but it was injection time and my husband was at work, so I had to figure it out. I had to come down the stairs sitting down - step by step - so I wouldn't fall over. Then I was afraid I would be aiming for the right spot to inject and hit something weird like his tail...or worse! UGH! :rolleyes:

Insulin is such a finicky thing. The only way to find the perfect dose for Chester is to keep everything very consistent so you can see how the BG reacts. But once you hit that magic dose, the consistency is still just as important to keep it that way. It's probably the toughest part of being the caregiver of a diabetic dog - sticking to that schedule like glue. But it does get easier over time, so hang in there. :)

[Tikobird]

I am also neurotic about the 12 hour time span for feeding & shots. I have packed a small cooler with Dozers food, insulin & meter and have dragged him with me when I knew I would not be home in time. We've had 2 occasions where we were both gone all day and hired someone to come and spend the day with the dogs so Dozer's schedule was adhered to ((nothing like paying someone to hang out in your pool - eat your food & drink your beer all day just to give the dog his shot!)) LOL I'm on the side of consistency being the key to getting on the right track -