Sparky Love is an angel June 23, 2014...

[Cara Sandler]

My dog was just diagnosed with diabetes last week, and he does not want breakfast under any circumstances. Like some of you, I've been jumping through all kinds of crazy hoops to get him to eat breakfast. Has anyone come up with anything else that has helped get your dog to eat breakfast? Mine will only eat Stella & Chewy's freeze dried raw food for breakfast (he'll eat his prescription food at dinner, no problem), which is not intended to be fed to diabetic dogs and has a lot of fat, which I absolutely want to avoid. Any suggestions would be welcome!

[Charlie's mom]

Re: when a dog won't eat

Hi Cara

We had the same problem in the beginning. We tried pumpkin, Parmesan cheese and had the most success with a microwaved scambled egg. We still mix that with the w/d and active longevity in the morning and replace the egg with chicken at night. Some folks have had success with the water from a can of tuna. Hard to believe our guy is now a chow hound who barks for his meals!

Good luck and welcome to a really supportive group of folks!

[Cara Sandler]

Re: when a dog won't eat

Thanks, Charlie's Mom. My dog Sparky doesn't like fish or eggs but does enjoy cheese. I'm going to give the parmesan a try. Paws crossed that he'll eat it!

[amydunn19]

Re: Sparky Love

I think some members here use Stellas as part of their dog's meals. There is nothing really bad there. Does your dog dislike the food or do you think it is a matter of the new schedule that is hard to adjust to? If your dog doesn't love the food, then you might need to find something they do like. The food battle is no fun and it is very important that they eat reliably.

[farrwf]

Re: Sparky Love

A poor appetite is not an unusual side effect of high blood glucose. The appetite should return when the blood glucose level comes down.

It's most important Sparky eats something so you can give the insulin. I wouldn't be real concerned, at this point, with what he eats, as long as he's eating something. There's plenty of time to tweak the insulin / food equation in coming months.

Welcome and good luck to you, Cara & Sparky. ...

[Cara Sandler]

Re: Sparky Love

Thanks Farrwf. That's the conclusion I'm coming to as well - eating something - anything - is better than eating nothing and not being able to get his insulin. And right now his blood glucose isn't actually that high - it's running in the low to mid 200s, and I am determined to do whatever it takes to keep his diabetes very well controlled.

[Monsters Momma]

Re: Sparky Love

Thanks Farrwf. That's the conclusion I'm coming to as well - eating something - anything - is better than eating nothing and not being able to get his insulin. And right now his blood glucose isn't actually that high - it's running in the low to mid 200s, and I am determined to do whatever it takes to keep his diabetes very well controlled.

Right now I would love the low to mid 200's!!

Welcome Cara...and you too Sparky!

Unfortunately for you, not me, I have a dog that will eat just about anything...that's how I've ended up with a whole new shoe wardrobe!

But seriously, food fighting can't be fun...I have found that my dogs really like frozen green beans and pumpkin. I would have never thought it, but neither one does much to Vinny's bg and since I had to put our second dog on a diet, it seems to make the food go farther for him. I've also, accidently, found out that they will eat any kind of peppers (I don't give them much) and zucchini and all kinds of veggies I cut up for different things. I guess they are more willing to try things now that they are free feeding.

Like Bill said, just getting Sparky to eat right now is key, especially since you need him to eat to give him his insulin. Once you get him to eat, you could slowly substitute what you want him to eat.

Welcome to the forum...you have found a great place for support and info. Please tell us a bit more about Sparky. We love to get to know the newbies!
Mel

[Cara Sandler]

Re: Sparky Love

Yes, I guess if there's ever anything lucky about diabetes, I'm lucky that we were able to control his blood sugar pretty quickly. This breakfast thing is really an issue though. Sparky has never been all that interested in food and maintained a healthy weight free feeding. Right now, we're reducing his dinner portion to see if that will make him hungrier in the morning, but so far it hasn't worked. He's somewhat picky about food and won't eat any vegetables.

So to tell you a little about Sparky - he is a small terrier mix, about 20 pounds, who looks like Benji. He is a rescue dog so I don't know his exact age, but I think he's about 5. He enjoys agility and flyball, and is really a tremendous athlete. He has TONS of energy, and is a bit of a clown. About 3 weeks ago, I noticed that he was drinking an awful lot of water, so I took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with diabetes. Right now he's on humulin N, 4 units twice per day. At the moment, he is a "healthy" diabetic with no complications, but it's still early. I'm dreading the cataract formation, and I understand that it is virtually certain to happen. I guess all I can do is be vigilant and get him to the doctor as soon as I notice any problems.

Thank you for the welcome! Everyone has been so nice, and I finally feel like I'm not the only one in the world dealing with this. Hopefully we can all help each other out.

[farrwf]

Re: Sparky Love

Diabetic cataracts aren't a certainity, but they are likely. The numbers I've seen are about 80% - 85% likely to occur. Sparky may be in the ~20% who don't experience them.

The relatively low B/G numbers he has for a newby are encouraging.

[Cara Sandler]

Re: Sparky Love

Yes, his BG hasn't really gotten too out of control. We've been lucky. Hopefully we'll be lucky about the cataract formation as well, but we'll just have to deal with whatever happens.

[Cara Sandler]

Re: Sparky Love

The issue the vet has with Stella and Chewy's is that they are high in fat - she wants to minimize the chance that Sparky will get pancreatitis. I think the issue is the schedule, not the food, because he'll eat just fine in the evening. But he has no interest whatsoever in breakfast. We keep reducing his dinner portion, hoping it will make him hungrier in the morning, but so far it hasn't worked. Even when I only fed him half of his usual dinner portion (at the vet's direction) he still didn't eat breakfast. Our last attempt is to skip dinner tonight (again, at the vet's direction) and see if he will eat breakfast. Sparky is a headstrong terrier who likes to call the shots, so I think we just need to let him know that he has to follow the schedule we've set for him. If he still doesn't eat breakfast, I have no idea what we'll do next. But she wants to avoid giving him the idea that he can demand whatever food he wants, when he wants it. It's fine to do for a healthy dog, but Sparky needs to be on a schedule, so I'll do whatever it takes to make it happen.

[amydunn19]

Re: Sparky Love

I think skipping meals that he will actually eat is not a great plan. My dog, Maggie, was in a different boat as far as she had pancreatitis but my original vet tried to "punish" her for not eating the prescription food and saying when she got hungry, she would eat. That poor advice almost killed my girl. She had a hypoglycemic induced seizure at 4 am. These are not bad children - they are sick animals. I am sorry - perhaps this subject is one that hits me at a very emotional spot but that vet and I would have parted ways right there. Maybe I shouldn't weigh in much more, I can't stand it.....

[Judi]

Re: Sparky Love

we've had other dogs who aren't as hungry in the morning. some have tried acid reducing medicine or a walk before breakfast.

Shellie's dog Hank turned out to have ulcers or something and in the morning his tummy was upset till he got medicine.

just throwing out ideas.

[Cara Sandler]

Re: Sparky Love

I, too, worried about that. But the vet assured me that we are only going to try this for one night, and if it doesn't work we'll try something else. My dog clearly likes the food - just not the timing of the food. His blood sugar is still elevated and since he isn't getting insulin there shouldn't be much of a chance that he'll become hypoglycemic. I can understand this being a tough subject for you, and I'm not completely certain I'm doing the right thing. But I think we are. We'll see.

[Cara Sandler]

Re: Sparky Love

I'll give these suggestions a try. Thanks!