Josie's Intro

[PugDogJosieWales]

Hello,

I have been reading a lot of posts on here, as my oldest pug, Josie, was diagnosed with diabetes exactly 3 weeks. He had to spend three nights in the hospital because he had ketones in his urine and he was really sick. I had gone away to visit my family for what turned into 9 days because of the snow. My boyfriend said he wasn't eating, but he always eats less when I am gone so I wasn't too worried. Then I got home and he was so skinny. Although he is a pug, he is pretty big - the largest framed pug I have seen. At perfect weight, he is 27lbs. He normally would always be heavier than that 33-35lbs. When I took him in, he was 23lb. It was pretty scary, I didn't think he would make it. To top it off, I am currently unemployed, so a $1700 vet/hospital bill was pretty devastating.

Upon release from the hospital, he was on 8 units of insulin (the $24 walmart one) 2x per day. After his first curve, they switched him to 10 units 2x per day. He goes for his next curve on Friday.

I had switched him to canned food when I first got back because I hoped he wasn't eating because his teeth (or lack thereof) were hurting with the dry food. Now he gets 1/2 c of Blue Buffalo grain free dry food and 1/4 c of the canned grain free wilderness 2x per day.

I keep reading about all the home testing here, yet my vet never mentioned doing that. Do you just tell the vet you want to do it at home? Is the vet method not accurate? Saving money sounds great, but home testing seems intensive. Is it done on weekends? I guess I am a bit intimidated by it.

(I also messed up my user name, it was supposed to be PugDogJosieWales, with an "s", but I guess there is no way to change it. Explains why I kept locking myself out of my account the days following my account activation.)

Thanks you all the great advice on this board!

Tanya

[Monsters Momma]

Re: Josie's Intro

Hello,

I have been reading a lot of posts on here, as my oldest pug, Josie, was diagnosed with diabetes exactly 3 weeks. He had to spend three nights in the hospital because he had ketones in his urine and he was really sick. I had gone away to visit my family for what turned into 9 days because of the snow. My boyfriend said he wasn't eating, but he always eats less when I am gone so I wasn't too worried. Then I got home and he was so skinny. Although he is a pug, he is pretty big - the largest framed pug I have seen. At perfect weight, he is 27lbs. He normally would always be heavier than that 33-35lbs. When I took him in, he was 23lb. It was pretty scary, I didn't think he would make it. To top it off, I am currently unemployed, so a $1700 vet/hospital bill was pretty devastating.

Upon release from the hospital, he was on 8 units of insulin (the $24 walmart one) 2x per day. After his first curve, they switched him to 10 units 2x per day. He goes for his next curve on Friday.

I had switched him to canned food when I first got back because I hoped he wasn't eating because his teeth (or lack thereof) were hurting with the dry food. Now he gets 1/2 c of Blue Buffalo grain free dry food and 1/4 c of the canned grain free wilderness 2x per day.

I keep reading about all the home testing here, yet my vet never mentioned doing that. Do you just tell the vet you want to do it at home? Is the vet method not accurate? Saving money sounds great, but home testing seems intensive. Is it done on weekends? I guess I am a bit intimidated by it.

(I also messed up my user name, it was supposed to be PugDogJosieWales, with an "s", but I guess there is no way to change it. Explains why I kept locking myself out of my account the days following my account activation.)

Thanks you all the great advice on this board!

Tanya

Hi Tanya and Welcome to you and Josie Wales! (Did I get that right?)

Personally, I think all of this can be quite intimidating at first, but you're three weeks in and it sounds like you're doing great!

About home testing...most vets don't think that it is necessary from what I've seen. Even my vet told me that I shouldn't worry about doing that, but I did it anyway. My reasoning was that Vinny would be a wreck at the vets for a curve, therefore it wouldn't be accurate. Vinny has never had a curve done at the vets, because I started home testing early. Now the vet asks me for my latest curve! Home testing not only has saved us many dollars, it has also saved Vinny from going too low a few times...saving us an emergency trip to the vet.

You can find a lot of info here http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=15 and I especially watched the video's over and over again before even trying. Keep in mind that the dogs in the video's have had this done so many times it becomes natural for them. Vinny will now sit in front of me when I call him because he knows he gets a special treat after. Take a look and see if more questions pop up.

Oh and BTW, I think one of the moderators might be able to help with the user name...they'll have to tell you.

Welcome again...you really have found a great place for info and support!
Mel

[CraigM]

Re: Josie's Intro

Welcome to the forum.
Here's a link to the AlphaTrak blood testing kit for dogs http://www.alphatrakmeter.com/index.html We aren't pushing this meter (can be expensive to use) but the general info & videos are good. I think most here use a human style meter such as the One Touch Ultra due to the lower costs. For the most part meters & testing supplies are much less expensive online than at local stores. Once you have done home testing it becomes second nature and probably takes less than a minute from start to finish.

Don't think I can change user names, let's see if Natalie can do it later today.

Craig

[PugDogJosieWales]

Re: Josie's Intro

Thank you both! When I have some time this evening, I will do some reading. I appreciate the links.

Yes, Josie is a boy, hence the name… most people call him a she, but he was named after the Clint Eastwood movie, before Clint lost his mind and started talking to chairs.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Josie's Intro

Hi Tanya!

I can fix your user name, which I absolutely LOVE!!! ... I don't think it's too long with the s.

Let me know if you want me to do that.

Natalie

[PugDogJosieWales]

Re: Josie's Intro

That would be great, thank you Natalie!

[PugDogJosieWales]

Re: Josie's Intro

Hi all,

I finally got an AlphaTrak 2 and planned to do my first home curve today, but I am a little intimidated. I tried doing a reading on Saturday and it was a nightmare. I followed the instructions on the video and waited until after i had a drop of blood from the lancet before putting the strip in the monitor, but by the time I do that, the blood is gone and I can't get enough to get a reading. The only place I could get the blood to come was on his inner lip.

He had his last curve at the vet on Thursday and they adjusted his insulin to 11 units. He was originally on 8, then 10, then 12, and now 11.

He seems to be feeling great! He jumped up on the couch three times in the past few days without the doggie steps. He hasn't done that in at least 6 years. Its like he is a new dog.

[Eddie]

Re: Josie's Intro

Glad to see that he's feeling so much better.

I have a different type of meter from you but I always put the strip in before I use the lancet so then I just have to pick up the meter and hold it by the drop of blood. Experiment with just putting a strip in yours (when you aren't actually testing) and see how long it gives you. Mine eventually goes blank and switches itself off but I don't usually run out of time.
Sometimes I "reset" the timing by taking the strip out again and putting it back in if I have got distracted and left a bit of a time gap.
Antonia

[PugDogJosieWales]

Re: Josie's Intro

Thanks Antonia,
I guess I was worried that the strip would be unusable after being in the monitor, even if it were not used. I kept getting an error because I wasn't getting enough blood on the strip in time. Josie would start licking at the place I lanced and the blood would dry up. It was quite an ordeal. My boyfriend was on the couch laughing because Josie would get up and go outside, then kept sticking his head in the doggie door to see if I was still planning to stick him again. He does the same thing when he knows I want to do his nails. He is a stubborn one.

[amydunn19]

Re: Josie's Intro

Glad he is doing so well. Can you post his curves? Just always curious when they up the insulin, then go back down.

Don't let that machine intimidate you. It takes practice and time to get it. Maybe get used to using the meter and do a curve later in the week. Don't put too much pressure on yourself.

[PugDogJosieWales]

Re: Josie's Intro

Glad he is doing so well. Can you post his curves? Just always curious when they up the insulin, then go back down.

I don't have them… does the vet normally give a copy with the numbers?

[farrwf]

Re: Josie's Intro

Hello, and welcome to Josie and yourself. Josie's a big boy like my Otis was. O stayed around 27 - 30 lbs. Great to see a big, handsome pug boy here.

Yea, your vet should give you the results of the curve(s).

You've found the best place on the planet for doggy diabetes information, support and fellowship.

[amydunn19]

Re: Josie's Intro

They should give them - you can always say it is for your journal.

[nikki712]

Re: Josie's Intro

If your vet doesn't normally give testing results (no matter whether it's blood test results, curves, etc), ask for them. My vet always gives copies, but I have been to vets that don't unless you ask for them.

[k9diabetes]

curve and vet records

Since a lot of dog caretakers want to know as little about vet visits as possible, they probably default to just keeping the records for themselves and not providing them. The more interactive the vet is in terms of the client and the dog's care, the more likely they are to give them out without asking.

All of your dog's records are yours to have - there should never be any problem with asking for any information in the chart or even a copy of the entire chart, which I have done many times. It comes in handy to have all of that history.

My favorite vet ever, who unfortunately has retired, won my heart when the first time I took a critter to him - a cat for a dental - I came in to pick up the cat and he said, "Okay, let me show you the x-rays of his teeth and what we did." EXACTLY what I want from a vet.

Natalie