We lost Tara to bone cancer Wednesday

[tesstara]

Hi, one of my two diabetic dogs has other health problems such as EPI and dementia and she is on caninsulin 11 units am and 4/5/6 units pm otherwise she's hypo. recently she is taking 7 to 8 hours to show any reaction to the insulin resulting in high readings, loss of weight etc. has anyone injected more than twice a day or experienced this? they have both been diabetic for 3 years so i'm quite experienced but still have not dealt with problem yet.

[jesse girl]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

yes i give jesse 3 shots a day and one meal so routines can vary with the individual dog and the situations the disease provides

[k9diabetes]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

It is possible to "overlap" injections when a dog is slow to process the insulin.

Have you done a curve recently?

I'd be curious to see what the curves look like. When our dog was on a Vetsulin-like insulin product, he was slow to put the insulin to work and then used it up all at once. His blood sugar was lowest at meal time and then climbed and climbed and climbed for hours, peaked, and then plunged back down rapidly. We eventually switched insulins with him to resolve the problem.

It's a challenge with EPI in the mix! Still using the same digestive enzymes? Any other changes that might be related to the lack of insulin action?

Natalie

[tesstara]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

we do curves regularly but because of the EPI its never the same on 2 days. so we put her insulin up slowly. she is on caninsulin at the moment and she has her lowest point 10 hours after her first injection so we give her a larger injection am than pm otherwise she is hypo around 1 am.her levels were high this weekend so we are increasing her dose to combat that but i was curious about other insulin types available here in the UK and about multiple injecting if the dose increase doesn't help her.

[tesstara]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

Hi Jesse, what sort of curves did she have before you started the 3 injections? was she taking a long time to respond to insulin?

[k9diabetes]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

If there is a general trend to when her lowest and highest blood sugars occur, you could overlap injections so as to give her a more consistent amount of insulin throughout the day and flatter blood sugar. Human diabetics have done this as well.

Another option is to give her some faster acting insulin like Regular in the morning. She might put that to work faster, leveling out her blood sugar.

How much difference is there between her highest and lowest blood sugar usually?

Is she having large swings, like from 500 down to 100 and back again (that's what our dog did on a Vetsulin-like product). Or is the blood sugar fairly flat, in which case the dose could be raised?

This is our dog's curve on Humulin L, which is the same as Vetsulin except made with human insulin.



Natalie

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

Just some info I found that might help you

This site has some great facts re EPI

We have a member Tara her Ruby was a member

Maybe worth while taking a peek

Epi4dogs.com

Hope this helps

Mo

[tesstara]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

Hi Natalie she has large swings,she will be up at 25.6 or so for a about 10 hrs then drop to 7.7 then steadily climb again. the problem is we are injecting and feeding at 6am and 6pm and she has her lowest point after 10 hrs. i think i will speak to the vet tomorrow regarding a faster acting insulin. we know the problem is the EPI and the lack of pancreas function it's just a question of how to regulate levels the best.

[tesstara]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

thanks Mo will have a look.

[Eddie]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

Hello
We are grappling a bit with the EPI/diabetes combination too. I am still fairly new to diabetes and so am interested in your queries.

Our dog also has quite big swings, going up very quickly after eating then dropping like a stone in the three hours before next meal. He used to be much steadier and still is overnight, so I think it is also linked to exercise during the day and possibly the hot summer days.

What enzyme are you using? We use Lypex and I have been experimenting with things like not soaking his kibble (used to have to soak when we used the enzymes that you incubate but you don't incubate with Lypex) and seeing if that will slow down the digestion and make it better match the insulin.

Another angle you might think about is splitting meals up a bit. We split Eddie's meals into four so he has about 2/3 of his meal at 7am plus insulin, then the remaining 1/3 about 2 or 3 hours later. That seemed to help a bit and give the insulin a chance to get going a bit before the second meal. Not quite sure if that would help or hinder your particular issue though!

Antonia

[tesstara]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

Hi Antonia, we use panzym with great results. the hot weather was really hard on tara she was panting and couldnt get settled(she is much better now). we are toying with the idea of more mealtimes and injections but i think we need to change insulin really as its not doing anything for the first 8 hrs . tara used to be fairly easy to regulate but the EPI really mixes thing up. i think some days her pancreas works a bit then the next day not at all . she is still trying though and so we continue to as well.

[tesstara]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

p.s Antonia- tara has no excersise apart from a wander around the garden when she wants as at the moment she has no energy due to the high levels.

[tesstara]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

Hi everyone, just thought i'd let you all know. we lost tara to bone cancer on wednesday.it flared up very quickly and she was fine until tuesday. despite all her ill health in the last 3 years this was one fight she couldn't win x

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

Sorry to hear Tara has passed, thinking of you, you took very good care if her.

Run free Tara

Mo

[amydunn19]

Re: injecting more than twice a day

So sorry to hear about sweet Tara. At least she did not suffer very long with the cancer. Hugs to you and your family - I know it is a very sad time.