Gus, the mini-schnauzer an Angel March 7, 2018

[jesse girl]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

jesse surprises me all the time as she has gotten older she has become more affectionate and not just to me but others . my mom use to call her unsociable

Her epilepsy seems to have vanished for now and dont know why

they are like little miracles that just seem to come along and we scratch are heads trying to figure it out and most times we cant

nice to hear that gus is rolling around again .little things like that can bring a big smile to the heart

[MomofGus]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

little things like that can bring a big smile to the heart

Yes, it made my day that he just stopped/dropped/and rolled. I treasure every little thing no matter how small it may seem or insignificant it may seem to others.

[Judi]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Excellent news! Glad he is being Gus again!

[Schnauzziemom]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Hello! I have read through your posts and want to encourage you about how hard you are working to help Gus!

I am going to "out" myself here and admit that I am both a veterinarian and a repeat schnauzer owner! I know that all owners feel that their breeds are special and unique (and they truly are of course) but I can't emphasize enough that Schnauzers and Diabetes is a frustrating and complicated combination. Even when things are done perfectly they still sometimes don't respond well.

Having said that..one of the main reasons schnauzers do poorly is their propensity for hypertriglyceremia. Basically they have fatty blood. This predisposes them to pancreatitis and diabetes and can make them not respond well to treatment.

Several people in this thread have mentioned fatty acid (era supplements) and that is a good start in Shnauzers but what I want to emphasize is that EVERY diabetic schnauzer should have a fasting triglyceride level run. Your vet sounds awesome and very dedicated but this is something unique to schnauzers so not all vets are aware of how important it is. (It is VERY difficult for us vets to know ALL the peculiarities of the each breed so no disrespect is meant there...I once ran blood work 3 times on a King Charles Cavalier due to platelet issues before I realized it was considered normal for that breed only!)

IF the triglycerides are high.. You are fighting an uphill battle and may need to fight the fatty blood issue more aggressively. Often times it is best for schnauzers to be on low fat food due to this. ( my schauzzies eat Royal Canin low fat). There are also additional medications that can be added if needed to drop their fat level.

I have always recommended this site to my clients with diabetic pets and myself just diagnosed my own schnauzer Breezy this past Friday with diabetes and thought it would only be fair for me to post and try to give back to people on this forum that help so many.

(And just to make you feel better...since her diagnosis and starting her on insulin her glucose has INcreased and is now in the low 400s!!! So even being a vet mommy is not magical with these dogs!)

Good luck and I will check in to see how things are going or if you have any questions!

[MomofGus]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Gahhh.....my Gus wasn't coming back to the porch to come in and I found out why. I found him chowing down on a squirrel! Don't know how much he ate, if he killed it or what, but it was half eaten. Now what's that going to do to his sugar levels, since he'd just had his evening meal and insulin!! Geez....always something around here. I can probably expect a spike in his levels for sure. I hope he doesn't throw up because that will mess up his insulin levels. It's only been 20 minutes since he'd eaten his evening meal and gotten his insulin and now this!

And, thank you, Schnauzziemom, for your kind words of support. We have been doing pretty good with BG levels the last 6-8 weeks and hopefully, I've found the right combination of food quantity and insulin. It's only taken 11 months to get him to this point. Keeping fingers cross that this is the case.

[Judi]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

yuck! That darn Gus. Hopefully since it was protein he didn't go too high. LOL

and welcome Schnauzziemom. It's great to have a vet on board!

[Monty Gohl]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Hi MomofGus and Schnauzziemom, I'm glad I found other schnauzer moms here. My Monty (13 yr old mini schnauzer, 14lbs) was diagnosed two weeks ago, Vet put him on 1.5 units twice per day of Vetsulin. Went to the vet today, he's still in the 500's so vet now wants him on 3 units twice per day.
Vet wanted me to buy Hills W/D, I currently feed him Purina Beyond Diet grain free. I was trying to do some research online for the best food, looks like W/D has a lot of carbs compared to Beyond Diet, so I'm worried about switching. Have you done any research on the best food for our schnauzers?
Thanks
Julie and Monty

[MomofGus]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Hello, Julie & Monty. I can't advise about food as I've stuck with the W/D pretty much since the beginning of his diagnosis a year ago. We started out with Hils metabolic and vetsulin and within a couple weeks it was evident that vetsulin wasn't going to work (not to mention the higher cost of the insulin). I don't know if you read the beginning of my thread where I had to seek another vet because I wasn't happy with the first one. It's been a long road this past year, and you may find that your schnauzer may be hard to regulate as mine was. Here we are at a year into this and have just now in the last couple of months gotten to the dose we need and seem to be fairly steady with the BG levels. We are on Novolin N, purchased from Walmart for $25/vial. And, we have had to go up 19 units twice a day. Initially, we started out at 6 units and increased throughout the year, giving 4-6 weeks in between the change to see how he would respond. It takes up to 4 weeks at least for the body to settle into the dose. Good luck with your pup and be patient with how he responds. As I said, it's taken almost a whole year for us. Every dog is different - that's for sure.

[Monty Gohl]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Thanks MomofGus! I did read some of your posts, I guess we have a long road ahead of us. We also found this due to him urinating during his sleep, its been a week since he's had any accidents now, so I feel he is getting better, he was also taking antibiotics and Denosyl.
Schnauziemom, I read your post that you are feeding your baby Royal Canin instead of W/D. is the Royal Canin food the Veterinary Gastrointestinal Food?
I found a site on the internet DogFoodAdvisor.com, that shows the Protien/Fat/Carbs in a long list of dog food. I was thinking that the Purina Beyond Diet that I am feeding Monty is a good one, but you mention about needing a low fat food so maybe W/D would be better. Trying to research the breakdown on the carbs in the below to see how much fibre is included.
W/D = Protien 18%, Fat 21%, Carbs 61%
Beyond Diet = Protien 26%, Fat 38%, Carbs 37%.
Thanks
Julie and Monty

[amydunn19]

Not all dogs will eat wd or any prescription foods so it is best to find something that your dog will eat reliably. Pancreatitis is always a risk with diabetics so staying with low fat is a good move but that doesn't mean you are limited to prescription. There are tons of great foods out there. Keep in mind, grain free can mean they use ingredients like white potatoes or even fattier ingredients. Many have used Blue Buffalo Weight Management. I used Nutrisca then went with Natural Balance Duck and Legume limited ingredient. It was one of the lowest fat kibbles I found at about 12%. Maggie actually liked it which was a miracle in itself. The options are just endless these days. I always like simple recipes with one protein source and one complex carb. That way, allergies aren't hard to narrow down.

[MomofGus]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Hi there, everyone. Haven't posted a Gus update in awhile. We have been doing really good in controlling the BG levels that last few months. We did have an issue a couple weeks ago where he had bladder spasms, and it happened on a Sat. afternoon after all vets were closed and icy weather was moving in that would have prevented me from driving 100 miles to nearest emergency clinic. I did reach a local vet on phone, and without an emergency $100 office call, she advised me to give him some Rimadyl (or baby aspirin) to help calm the bladder, and that seemed to work well enough until I could get him into the regular vet a couple days later when they were open. I feared a bladder stone, and not really sure what caused it, as only thing showed was inflammation cells. A week of meds did the trick and his recheck today was fine (thank goodness).

She told me that she didn't know what I was doing, but I was doing a good job with the diabetes and was very pleased with his sugar levels. His weight had gone down a few more ounces from 2 weeks ago, and I am starting to get concerned. He started out at 24.9#'s when diagnosed, and we wanted him to lose a few pounds, and is now down to 20.2#'s. Why am I concerned? Because his insulin dose is 19 units. I'm wondering what food I could add to his w/d diet that would add a few calories and not raise his BG levels and maybe keep his weight steady or even gain back a pound. Perhaps a couple bites of cooked plain chicken? Any experience/thoughts on this? I don't want to mess up his BG levels as they're really good and controllable and pretty predictable.

[jesse girl]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

THat has always been a bit of a struggle for jesse as i dont want to put to much pressure on her digestive system

Many times with weight comes fat and for jesse that can be a dangerous combination as far as food

Her weight did settle on a weight she maintained Its possible gus is still finding that weight with the calories given

It such a delicate balance with our diabetic pups

Sounds like the vet is quite amazed at your management of guses diabetes
glad things are going well i might just keep an eye on things and give it a bit more time

[Brownies Mom]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

I'm so glad that Gus is doing better. He can have a few of my post Christmas pounds. lol

[crose0056]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Just like Gus my Pug is 26 lbs and newly diag diabetic. Novolin 11u now and readings 200 = 300. Making progress.

[MomofGus]

Re: Gus, the mini-schnauzer

Just a quick post. This evening we had our first really low reading of 50 on my pettest meter at a time when I expected around 100, based on gus's BG patterns. So, I rechecked with the Alphatrak and got 38! Imagine my panic. I gave him a milkbone, and rubbed a little honey on his gums. He was acting fine, but I panicked at that low reading. His lows come the last hour before feeding time. I retested 20 minutes later and he was up 15 points - still too low. To keep on schedule, I fed him anyway, and added extra food, and I waited 20 minutes later to inject his insulin, instead of immediately doing it after he ate. I also reduced his insulin by half unit. I hope I have adjusted okay by adding a little more food. We will see.