Newly Diagnosed Puppy

[lilbonfire88]

Re: Newly Diagnosed Puppy

It is easy. Just choose a day when you are expecting that things will be typical(not when you have workers in the house or your long lost relatives showing up). Test before the first insulin shot and every two hours after until dinner time. It doesn't have to be exact but get as close as you can. This will give you an idea of how the insulin works. Keep your schedule and everything the same as a regular day. Record the numbers and any observations you may have - times when your dog is particularly lethargic or very energetic and playful. Post the times and numbers here for feedback. You will learn a great deal from curves - the first few I did were surprising.

Thanks, that's kind of what I have been doing with noting his behaviour, I will just have to check more often. Sounds good though, I can't express how grateful I am to have found this forum.

[lilbonfire88]

Re: Newly Diagnosed Puppy

I just thought of a question. The vet had tested his urine last week for ketones when they did the original urinalysis and that came back normal. Shouldn't they be elevated with diabetes? I don't know much about diabetes as I don't know anyone with it, but from the reading I've done I thought that with how high his sugar has been that they would be elevated. Should we be checking those regularly as well?

Btw, his sugar at the vet today was:
4 hours after insulin = 632
8 hours after insulin = 541

It scares us to death that he is still that high! He was 448 last week when originally diagnosed. They upped his insulin from 11 units to 13. I feel like that isn't going to be enough of an increase to help, and I am worried about the lasting effects the uncontrolled sugar can have on him. We are calling another specialist again tomorrow since we feel our vet isn't as on top of this as they should be. The specialist I called this afternoon couldn't get us in until 3 weeks! I want sooner! If anyone is in Ohio and knows of any good ones, please let me know. Thanks

[amydunn19]

If ketones are present, then the high blood sugar has created a potentially life threatening emergency. Even low levels of ketones should be addressed quickly. Not all diabetics have ketones especially when the blood sugar is normal. it is directly related to high blood sugar.

[lilbonfire88]

Re: Newly Diagnosed Puppy

We found out some very disheartening news today. The vet specialist today said that she was 90% sure his pancreas is bad. They sent out tests to be sure, but all of the symptoms and things that are going on lead to that. We are at a loss for words right now. If this is true, not only are we looking at a lifetime of insulin and infections, but also requiring digestive enzymes to be given as well. The vet made it sound like this is very bad news, so depending on what we find out with the tests I guess we will know more then.

[jesse girl]

Re: Newly Diagnosed Puppy

I dont know about that .we have seen EPi dogs who were deficient of the enzymes to digest food which when you think about it that it would show up in diabetic dogs do to pancreatic problems

Yes it is a a bit more work but as far as here on the forum they appear to have normal happy dogs lives

The original diagnosis from the emergency vet was quite disturbing for my jesse . yes it was hard in the beginning but after sometime things settle and it was just a new normal life

the key to this is pulling most of the load in the cart do your homework become the expert and thats what truly makes the difference

[amydunn19]

I had an IMS and a couple of ER vets tell me early in Maggie's diagnosis that she wouldn't make it 6 months. She proceeded to make a liar out of them for almost 9 years.

She was bit by a copperhead when she was a little over a year and almost died then so she battled her whole life. In fact, that snake is likely what caused all the diabetes and pancreatitis.

Diabetes in dogs almost always means insulin forever but you would be surprised that even with all of the injections, life is pretty normal and enjoyable. Dogs don't tend to be as susceptible as humans to side effects of diabetes except for vision and the occasional UTI.

You can only gauge things by the way your dog feels and acts.

[Eddie]

Re: Newly Diagnosed Puppy

Our dog Eddie has had EPI since before he got diabetes. Once you realise that is what the problem is, and sort out some enzymes, our experience is that it is not too bad to manage.

If it turns out that your dog does have EPI then it you have to give digestive enzymes with each meal. We started off with the sort that you have to "incubate" on the food ie give the enzymes a chance to start the digestive process to break down the food before giving it to the dog.

We then moved to Lypex (I think it is like a human medicine called Creon in the US) which is just granules that you sprinkle on the food as you put it in the bowl. no trouble and not too expensive. The Lypex granules are easier because you don't need to do any preparation.

Our dog's symptoms were a ravenous excessive hunger, smelly soft poops and a rapid loss of weight despite eating lots. He did not test positive on the test carried out by the vet but his symptoms improved as soon as we started to give him the enzymes. They come back if we stop the enzymes so we are sure of the diagnosis despite the test result.

Based on our experience I'd say this isn't too bad a problem and in many ways it is easier to deal with than the diabetes.

There is a K9EPI group on Yahoo which has some very helpful people on it and they also have contacts with a lady who sells the "incubation" type enzymes at competitive prices. (I don't know anything about her as we are in the UK so never used her services).

Antonia

[lilbonfire88]

Re: Newly Diagnosed Puppy

Our dog Eddie has had EPI since before he got diabetes. Once you realise that is what the problem is, and sort out some enzymes, our experience is that it is not too bad to manage.

If it turns out that your dog does have EPI then it you have to give digestive enzymes with each meal. We started off with the sort that you have to "incubate" on the food ie give the enzymes a chance to start the digestive process to break down the food before giving it to the dog.

We then moved to Lypex (I think it is like a human medicine called Creon in the US) which is just granules that you sprinkle on the food as you put it in the bowl. no trouble and not too expensive. The Lypex granules are easier because you don't need to do any preparation.

Our dog's symptoms were a ravenous excessive hunger, smelly soft poops and a rapid loss of weight despite eating lots. He did not test positive on the test carried out by the vet but his symptoms improved as soon as we started to give him the enzymes. They come back if we stop the enzymes so we are sure of the diagnosis despite the test result.

Based on our experience I'd say this isn't too bad a problem and in many ways it is easier to deal with than the diabetes.

There is a K9EPI group on Yahoo which has some very helpful people on it and they also have contacts with a lady who sells the "incubation" type enzymes at competitive prices. (I don't know anything about her as we are in the UK so never used her services).

Antonia

Thanks you. The vet said that the EPI is just a matter of giving him enzymes, but the other test they did was to see if his pancreas works at all. Once we get results I will have to ask her why exactly she said it was as horrible as she did.