Pippi's Story

[Pippi's Mama]

We had a bit of a scare with Pippi last Friday night, but she is back to her Pippified self now, thank goodness!

I’d been concerned that her blood glucose numbers were going too high, so I took her to the vet last Wednesday for a comprehensive blood test and to explain to him what was happening with her blood glucose levels. Her blood test came back great. Her blood glucose on the results was around 212 at 1:45 p.m., so he felt that we needed to go up a half unit on the insulin to 4.5 units a.m. and stay at 4 units p.m.

Later in the afternoon after we had gotten home, Pippi ate grass and threw up. Then when it was time to eat at 8 p.m., she won’t touch her supper. This was extremely weird as she is a little hoover. The last time she had not eaten was 16 months ago when she was diagnosed with diabetes with a 600 blood glucose level. After getting her regulated, she has not been sick at all.

I had tested her bg before putting the food in front of her that night, and it was 209, so I knew that high blood glucose wasn’t the problem. I kept offering her food and she kept refusing, so I called the vet to ask what to do about giving her insulin if she didn’t eat. He said that if she had not eaten by 10 p.m. to give her 1 unit. If she wasn’t better by morning, to give him a call. I let her sleep for a while, then offered her food at 10 p.m. and she ate, so I was able to give her the normal amount of insulin.

The next morning, she seemed o.k. and ate her breakfast. But that night, she didn’t want to eat again. She did eat this time if I hand fed her.

Once again on Friday morning, she got up and ate her breakfast normally, but late that afternoon, she seemed quiet and mopey. She had been having some gas, so I thought she might have a little bug or something, but thought she’d get over it.

That night, we went out to dinner. When we walked in the backdoor, there was bloody diarrhea everywhere. I thought that maybe something had ruptured. It was awful. I was in a panic. Thank goodness I was able to get in touch with the vet and rush Pippi over to get her help! After testing the sample I brought, the vet said that she had a clostridium infection. He said that this bacteria can live in the intestines of dogs normally, but can get out of control sometimes. And since she is a diabetic, she was more susceptible to it.

He gave her a shot of Baytril, Cerenia, and Vitamin K and started her on Flagyl to be taken orally 2x a day for 10 days. He said it would also help if I’d give her a tablespoon of plain yogurt with her meals. He said not to feed her that night, just give her 1 unit of insulin so her bg wouldn’t go too high.

By Saturday morning, Pippi’s diarrhea had cleared up, and she began getting better and better. By Monday morning, she was back to her feisty self. She is still on the Flagyl and yogurt at meals. I read up on clostridium and the info said that once an animal gets it, they can get it again here and there, so I’m going to make the yogurt a normal part of her meals now, as it aids in digestion. It doesn’t seem to have an affect on her blood glucose levels and Pippi eats it fine when it is mixed in with her food.

Since I have raised Pippi’s insulin to 4.5 units in morning and 4 units in evening, she hasn’t had those high levels anymore and seems to be back to normal on that front as well.

I don’t know if this infection could have possibly had something to do with the high bg levels before she started showing signs of sickness. But as diabetes is a progressive disease, maybe her body just needed a tad more insulin. I’m going to do some bg curves next week after everything settles down.

[jesse girl]

The infection may have played a part in the higher numbers

Glad it was figured out . Anytime jesse has an upset belly I fast her for 24 hours and then return food in smaller portions until stools and no belly upset and then back to normal

You may not need that half unit increase . Give a few extra checks of blood sugar maybe fine

[Pippi's Mama]

Will do!



I have a human diabetic friend who is a type 1 diabetic and she said the same thing.

[k9diabetes]

Oh, that must have been so scary to come home to find bloody diarrhea. Poor girl. Our nondiabetic dogs gets colitis periodically... three or four times in 12 years. Sometimes with blood. He gets some flagyl and a bland diet for a while to get back on track.

Glad it wasn't something more serious!

Natalie

[Raysaint]

An increase in fiber, which many of us do for our diabetic dogs, helps with less bowel issues, and colitis, etc. The good bacteria takes over the bad.

My dog used to get bouts of bowel inflammation, once he became diabetic and I fed him more fiber, he's never got it again.

And pumpkin is also great for digestion. I prefer it over a dairy product for a dog. Also has betacarotene for eye health.

[Pippi's Mama]

I've been using green beans mixed in Pippi's food a.m. and p.m. for about a month or so. I've continued using the plain yogurt in her food 2x daily with her meal since she had that terrible Clostridium infection. I'd seen some people in this group feed green beans to their diabetic dogs and the last time I went to the vet a month or so ago, they said that green beans are good for fiber with diabetic dogs and good for treats.


I have fed Pippi here and there the green beans as treats. The first time I gave her a green bean for a treat, she about ate my hand off! She loved it! LOL. Who would have known she'd like a green bean for a treat? Pet owners spend so much money for dog treats at the store - most not good for them at all - and all they have to do is give them green beans! It keeps their dogs healthy and happy and saves them lots of money! Plus it doesn't raise the blood glucose level much!


I have not tried yams/sweet potatoes. I am a little worried because they taste "sweet" and thought they might raise her blood glucose level because of the sugar. Are they good for treats - a spoonful or so? How do they compare to green beans when it comes to blood glucose levels?

[Pippi's Mama]

What about pumpkin vs. green beans or pumpkin vs. sweet potatoes when it comes to blood glucose levels? (See my former post about green beans.) Can you give canned pumpkin for a treat, also?

[MisterAlan]

Ive given my dog like half bowls of green beans, the fresh kind that are crunchy and he seems to do fine on them but hes a big dog at 70lbs. As for BGs i dont see anything mess with my numbers when i increase meat protein or green veggies. I feed him barley and pinto beans for his carbs so those already provide a lot of fiber to keep his bowl movements okay but whenever i see him have loose stool not diarrhea yet from time to time ill increase the green beans and green veggies i have lying around. I havent used pumpkin yet because i want to use it as a back up to get him to eat incase he starts getting pickier in the future lol.

[jesse girl]

You can give just about anything as long as it doesnt degrade glucose levels in terms of going higher or lower and is safe to eat . There was times I gave jesse some honey to stabilize glucose levels . That little boost in sugar helped to slow down a dump of sugar from her body raising glucose levels .

I do concur with others using fiber enriched foods to help with digestion . Jesse also had problems with this . I also give her a daily dose of milk thistle and knock on wood she has been pretty good in the stool department

Whatever you add start slow with small amounts and test and let settle for 5 days and see how blood sugar and digestion goes

Dogs do have delicate digestive system at times and I guess living with us probably caused that over many generations

[Raysaint]

Pumpkin is very low in natural sugar and carbs, more so than sweet potato.

https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts...roducts/2601/2

https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts...roducts/2668/2

https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts...roducts/2602/2

Links show all the nutrition data for 1 cup of the basic form of the veggies. At the top of the data, change the 1 cup to 28 grams.