help with feeding a diabetic dog

[SpoiledBella]

I have a 7 year old rottie, and she has been diagnosed as a diabetic,
we have been feeding Orgin original and she does like this food, the vet
put her on Hills wd and she refuses to eat. It is like it is to hard she spits
it out and eats the chicken they had me add to it. I am at a breaking point
I don't know what to do. She is losing weight and her sugar is at 518 when she will not eat. I have wet this food, ground it up and heated it and even used the can stew but she refuses, She acts like she is hungry. How can I get her to eat this that they say she has to have.

[tonyr]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

She does not have to eat that food.It is up to you to discover what she will eat and importantly likes.
Check out dog food analysis websites for ideas, or look on here to see what others feed their dogs.
What does her blood glucose curves look like with the Orijen ?.
If they look good then why change.

[Judi]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

the WD does seem to help a lot with regulation, probably due to the fiber but a lot of dogs just don't like it.

Like Tony said, getting them to eat period is the important thing

Some people add some benefiber (no sugar added) to their dog's food

[jesse girl]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

hi and welcome

as the others sugested the most important thing with diabetic dogs is getting them to eat a full meal at a consistent time . thats the priority

now its hard to say what food is best for regulation Wd has a good track record but that wont work if your dog wont eat it . he is still young so this maybe a long haul

you want your dog to enjoy the meal not to have to be force fed . you found something that works now you want to see how insulin works with it and i am sure you will get adequate blood sugar for your pup to live a happy life

vets sometimes just get a narrow view of thing and wont deviate even if there is a problem . i would suggest to your vet this just isnt working and you are going with the new food . if they dont like it you may have to find another vet

[Raysaint]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

I did a lot of research and calculations (using dry matter basis) to find a food with a good ratio of fiber/fat/protein/carbs. That turned out to be Wellness Senior formula.
It's a canned food, but I have always preferred canned for the moisture, less processed ingredients, and palatability. The Fromm Shredded beef was my second choice.

[amydunn19]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

I was in exactly the same position with Maggie. She refused all the diabetic prescription foods and many "premium" ones as well. A vet who insists on the prescription diet when the dog refuses to eat it is not well versed in diabetes. I know this from personal experience because my original vet insisted on the prescription food and I about had a nervous breakdown. I begged, I cried, I sat in front of her bowl, trying to coax her to eat. Finally, she got really sick and her blood sugar crashed and sent her into a seizure. We made it but I immediately found a new vet. He explained that we had to get her to eat something - eating is as essential as insulin. I tried so many foods - I bet I had 20 open bags at one point. We finally found one but it took trial and error. Maggie also had pancreatitis.

If you go back to Orijen, I think it would be wise to look for another food. I say this because I noticed your dog had pancreatitis and all the formulas I looked at were just too much fat. I found several that worked for her. The lowest fat of the commercial diets that I could find was Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Duck and Legume. She actually liked it. She also liked Blue Buffalo Weight Management. Just try some Low Fat foods and see what she likes. You can balance it with insulin.

Home testing the blood sugar will help in the process.

[Judi]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

The WD food was the one my vet wanted me to feed, so that's why I modelled my ratio after it. I never said it was the best one for diabetic dogs. That's for each dog owner and vet to decide.

that was exactly what I did when I made home made food for awhile!

[k9diabetes]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

Regarding Bella's diet, if you take a look at the top of the forum there is a pinned post reporting the diets people have used with their diabetic dogs.

Just about any diet can work - what works best for a particular dog is unique - depends on the insulin they're on, how they process that insulin, how they process carbs and protein and fat.

So you typically just have to start with a food you feel comfortable trying and test blood sugar at home to see how it's working for your dog.

If you want to stick with the prescription diet, it can help to add something she can't pick out - lowfat yogurt, lowfat cottage cheese, salt-free or low salt broth, a little gravy from canned food, water from a salt-free can of tuna.

Sometimes even things that can be picked out will be enough to convince them to eat the prescription diet - grated parmesan cheese or shredded soft cheeses, a little meat or tuna.

[Raysaint]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

I certainly feel your frustration, it can be expensive trying different foods, besides affecting your dog's health. Years ago when we first got our dog, he wouldn't eat most of what we tried, so I bought a bottle of liver sprinkle (granular pure dried liver) and shook it on his food. It tastes just like his liver treats, which is another idea, to put a bit of their favorite treats into the food. And low fat is key for the pancreatitis.

[thomasgunnar]

Re: help with feeding a diabetic dog

Shelby the rottie is now 9. She was diagnosed just before turning 7. The vet recommended the Science Diet. It was costly and I hadn't heard a lot of good things about it. I basically took the calorie count form that and went from there.

We now feed two different types of nutro food. Senior and weight management. As well she gets a bit of beneful ( I know not the best of foods but what a difference it made) and a bit of canned with warm water to make a bit of gravy.

She gets 2 1/2 cups per meal. 1/2 Senior, 1/2 beneful and 1 1/2 of the weight management. Basically we got her to the point where she was hungry at meal time but not starving then worked on the correct insulin dosage from there.