Who took their dog to a specialist? Advice?

[jesse girl]

Re: Please help me regular her sugar??

The high protien diet maybe the problem . You need carbs to work with insulin

High protein diets tend to drop and spike sugar

If you are treating cushhings and there appears that your dog doesn't have it. You can get false positives from a unregulated diabetic dog . So the medication maybe causing cortisol to go low which can make blood sugar go low and you are seeing that

We do have a sister site k9 cushings and discuss the cushings diagnosis

[YukiesMom]

Re: Alphatrak test strips? where do you buy them?

I do check Yukon's BG every day because he has Cushing's Disease too so he is not regulated even though it has been over a year. He will be regulated for about 5 days and then all of a sudden he will be in the 500's. Yesterday I gave him his insulin and 1 hour later he was down to 116, but by dinnertime he was 486. He has lost a little weight so I am going to reduce the amount of insulin and I am hoping that will help him with these swings.

I buy the Bayer Keto Diastix strips at CVS Pharmacy and with 40% off coupon I pay about $21 - that is for 100 strips.

I just get a catch of his urine when we go on a walk and test it. There are different shades on the bottle that show "around" the range that his BG is at. I like to give Yukon a break sometimes from being poked so much - plus it's just quick and easy to do - especially when you are just trying to regulate your pet in between doing the recommended curves.

[Raysaint]

Re: Alphatrak test strips? where do you buy them?

I also test every morning, to see where the day starts at, so that I can make slight adjustments if needed to food, treats, walks, etc.
Also, checking every day lets you see any trends that might be developing, to possibly catch an issue.

Recently my dog's morning fasting was high for about 3 weeks; turns out he had a UTI.

[Raysaint]

Re: Please help me regular her sugar??

High protein is not ideal in most cases. Moderate protein and moderate carbs, with low fat is the standard protocol.

Carbs last longer in the body and help balance the insulin, to stay more in a good range. Without carbs, the insulin can react to many things and cause big swings.

And for a small dog, one unit can make a difference.

My maltipoo is 25 lbs. and when he was on 8.5 units, his regulation was good but not as consistent as it could be. Went up to 9 units and it seemed to be the sweet spot.

[mrgregj]

Re: Diabetes and Blindness! Did your dog go blind?!

My Charlie has been partially blind for a little over a year. I first noticed it about 6 months after his diabetes diagnosis, I would normally throw him a treat and he started to not be able to find it as quick right away. Right now he has pretty big cataracts, but I still think he has some vision in particular distance and peripheral. We will be out walking and he will all of a sudden look at a dog far across the street. I will be playing fetch with him, he seems to notice his toy or "see" it more as hes walking past it so I think he has some peripheral vision.


He acts totally normal and adjusted quickly and very well around the house, outside I just have taught him new words for like "down" or "up" when we approach a curb when walking or "watch out" if hes walking too fast towards something like a tree or sign and I will kind of nudge him out of the way with the leash.


Ocu-glo is expensive and I was giving him that daily for about 4mos so It's probably hit or miss whether it will help your dog. I have since stopped giving it to him.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Alphatrak test strips? where do you buy them?

I use the Advocate PetTest meter and strips are pretty cheap compared to the AlphaTrak. Another option is the Onetouch Ultra, a human meter, but measures very close to the Alphatrak and PetTest. The strips on Ebay are very reasonable.

I test Daisy before every injection and also spot check and run curves.

[Lchow022]

Re: Alphatrak test strips? where do you buy them?

In canada they are selling them for 100$ Canadian..so its 2$ a piece. I don't think you can get them anywhere cheaper than on ebay and on amazon in the states...

[anotherk9lover]

Re: Alphatrak test strips? where do you buy them?

Firstly, how do i respond to a specific person, I'm not sure i'm doing it right? Is it the last icon next to the quote thing? Right now i'm attempting to respond to jesse girl.
What kind of strips are you using that are so cheap? With what meter, and are they accurate?

[anotherk9lover]

Re: Please help me regular her sugar??

That's very conflicting information then, because from my research I found that the diet needs to be mostly protein and no carbs, because carbs turn into sugars. So I'm not sure how are you guys giving pumpkin and fruits to your diabetic dogs etc, I feel like her sugars would be through the roof then! Do you feed your dogs homemade meals, or do you use kibble?

[jesse girl]

Re: Please help me regulate her sugar??

I use prodigy autocode and got the meter and strips off ebay . As I said I buy in bulk so I will spend $50 to $ 60 to get 6 months of strips . There are other discount strips on ebay but I have been satisfied with the consistency of these strips for jesse . I dont know of any other dog using them but i did compare to the one touch ultra and they were close to them

Over the 10 years buying strips off ebay I only had one batch which i was reimbursed

Dogs are not the same as human diabetics . The prescription food for diabetic dogs is filled with carbs . The reason is Insulin works fairly hard and fast for dogs . Its probably not completely appropriate and most of us use human insulin . So you need those carbs to tame that strength of insulin. If not injected insulin has no sugar to work with dropping sugar and the body responding with dumping sugar into the system to preserve life and you get these wild swings going low then high . Now some dogs do ok on a protein diet but thats not common . A balanced food with carbs seem to do best for most . Your dog seems to display the big swings in sugar possible showing the need for some carbs to balance injected insulin

Just press the quote button to respond to an individual post . To get good regulation takes time and effort . Making small steps to see how blood sugar is affected and only one step at a time . It took jesse 6 months to settle her down and a year to fine tune her routine

[Raysaint]

Re: Please help me regulate her sugar??

The internet is full of wrong information. I'm also diabetic myself, for 30 years, and I know that carbs are important whether you're diabetic or not. It's what fuels the body.

Protein can be hard on the kidneys. Moderate protein is the norm.

Yes carbs turn into sugar, that's what they're supposed to do. The body and it's cells run on blood sugar.

Jesse explained it, injected insulin doesn't adjust on its own based on the body's carb intake. So we have to give the right amount of carbs to work with the insulin.
It's natural to fear carbs because we think all sugar is bad. But the body needs sugar, we just match the right amount of insulin to work with the carbs we put in.
Little additions of fruit/veggies only might raise the sugar level a bit, but base your insulin dose on everything the dog eats. And you do that by doing curves.
Time and patience is key to regulating a dog.

[anotherk9lover]

Re: Please help me regulate her sugar??

I was reading a lot of reviews on the Ketona food brand, and many people said they put their diabetic dogs on that diet and it made it easier to regulate their sugar ever since. The prescription diet like Hill's I hear is a terrible brand filled with sugars and carbs and very little actual protein, so I stay away from that.
What do you guys feed your dogs, do you make home made food each time or do you use kibble?

I wouldn't say that Daisy ever had big highs and low's swings in one day. Typically she just doesn't go low enough. Or if she started off fairly low before first insulin dose, that's when it goes low at the peak. But we don't check her sugar every day, that would just be incredibly high maintenance. According to my vet most diabetic pet owners don't even check sugars ever, they just take them in to the vet for curves. Many people are uncomfortable with checking sugars themselves at home.
Fortunately we can do the sugar checks, but it has to be once in a while, daily isn't possible. Also, I'm the one who is most comfortable with checking it in the family, but I'm not currently living at home with Daisy. So it makes this bit more challenging.

We have been occasionally adding some veg to her kibble, like cucumbers, beans, etc, as well as some eggs. But mostly we try to stick to protein.

[Jamongi2018]

Re: Diabetes and Blindness! Did your dog go blind?!

Can I ask what is in your homemade meal?

[jesse girl]

Re: Please help me regulate her sugar??

Jesse gets boneless chicken( cooked in a pressure cooker ) ,Mackerel ,hard boiled eggs ,pinto beans( cooked in a pressure cooker ),yams,Vegetables grind down in a food processor ( kale ,red char broccoli ,collard greens ,kale, beets ,carrots ,tomatoes ,cauliflower, Italian squash . I dont use all these at one time but mix and match ) . I add grind up to a powder egg shells for calcium . I also give her milk thistle to help with liver support .

I was told from the original vet when jesse became diabetic that she could live another 3 years at best and go blind . I decided I would put effort into making her life better with the disease and we were rewarded with that effort as she has kept her site and has lived almost 10 years with disease . She has a normal beagle life chasing rabbits with some limitations . She has never had a hypoglycemic event ( close but we caught it by testing her sugar )

Jesse is now over 15 and still doing well . Her seizures from epilepsy ( had since a puppy ) disappeared 4 years ago never was on medication

Most think its hard and inconvenient and some vets go along with that and thats fine but outcomes will be reduced. Its just common sense . To me It doesnt seem like work . Its just part of a daily routine and no big deal .

[Raysaint]

Re: Please help me regulate her sugar??

I read Ketona is high protein low carb, not the norm for diabetic dogs. That's not to say it doesn't work for some dogs.

Regulation is one thing, but be aware of other potential effects in the future with high protein. That's what the science to date tells us.

This article sums up a lot of what I've researched. Science tells us dogs are omnivores, not carnivores, and a balanced diet does them well.

https://www.petmd.com/dog/centers/nu...tein_dog_foods

The old saying, "everything in moderation" is usually good advice.