Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

Hello and welcome to you and Jujube

yes its important to feed Jujube something he will gobble up .

what was he eating before being diagnosed? You might try it back again.

You can go to your local pet food store and see what they recommend.
dogadvisor.com is another place to look.
I test Riles on the inside of his upper lip. Keep trying you,ll get it. Glad your home testing.

how much does Jujube weight?
what food is he eating?
what insulin is he getting?

Do you have a recent curve to post. Thats taking blood at fasting before meals and injection then every 2 hours after for a 12 hour period.

Its important to be consistent. Same time for injections after food every 12 hours, same food, same exercise.

were here to help with any questions you have

Mo

[JoJo's mom]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

Hi and Welcome

I also test my dog on the inside of the upper lip and it is so much easier for him and me. I get blood every time and he does not mind it at all.

Good Luck
Mary

[thomasgunnar]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

Shelby gets it in the lip. The vet was doing in her ear. We use a One Touch Verio. Lancing dohicky set on 3

[Doogiegirl]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

wow.

Already I have learned something important. I was told to take blood from the ear. Hana is a Belgian Shepherd/Border Collie cross with lots of hair. I struggled way too often and really need to find a way to test her blood on my own.

I'm going to try the upper lip!

Thanks.

[chucksmom]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

I test on Chucks elbow callus, I do sometimes have to poke more than once, the callus is very thick.
I use walmart relion, 28 gage lancet
I don't use a device, the click makes my boy jump, so I poke by hand.
I use the relion micro, soon to switch to the Alpha Track 2, I'm waiting on my extra strips, which I forgot to order when I ordered the meter

[BearsMom]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

I'm in total stress right now too. Bear was diagnosed yesterday with diabetes. His BS was 639. But I need to find a new vet asap. No clear explanations at all were given to me about the disease and how to manage.

[cathyboy]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

Tucker is a cockapoo with a tiny stub of a tail. This comes in handy with diabetes as we just shave a portion of his stub and take the blood from there. He doesn't feel a thing. We tried the inside of the ear like the vet suggested but it was painful and hard to get at. The tail, for us, is perfect.

[Winston]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

BearsMom, I can empathize with you. My 13 yr old chocolate lab started having seizures 4 years ago from diabetes (high numbers). He also has hypothyroidism, not unusual with diabetic dogs. Want you to know in those 4 years, he went blind, had surgery, and we are re-regulating him currently after relatively few problems (mostly owner ones). Up until November I still took him for 15-30 minute walks a day, and only quit because of the weather and I was out of town a lot. Husband doesn't do walks.
I think there are some things you can do now:
1. If you have someone to consult with (husband, etc.) daily that can help you; support is very helpful in making decisions. Observe your pet, not just numbers. When ours had his eye surgery at MSU, the vet said simply he is well regulated if he doesn't wake you up at night. While that may be simplistic and some may argue, remember we were lax in monitoring ours for quite a long time, and were going by the observation method more than anything the last couple years. My dog gets quite restless and pants heavy when his sugar is moving. At 13 his liver and kidney function is still good.
2. Get a meter that is accurate, I used a cheapie Rite Aid $15 one for the last years and we found out it was way off (I showed 217, the lab showed 422, etc.) We always knew it was off, but calculated about 20%. You don't need spot on accuracy. I use ipet now, it's good, and I have used my cheapie with cheaper strips and ratioed it to the ipet to do non critical checks. We check ours on his lip. They don't like it at first, that is why you need help, but it doesn't take long, maybe a week and you'll be able to do it yourself. Labs are fairly easy going, I don't know what type of dog Bear is. Get everything ready, the lance, the meter strip inserted lightly, but not all the way. Make sure to wash and thoroughly rinse and dry your hands before handling strips. We use a paper towel to wipe the dog's lip so we don't get drool in the blood. We set the depth of the lance to 5 to make sure we get some blood. Start at the smallest setting and move up depending on how easily our dog bleeds. You need a little bubble of blood to make sure the strip can wick the blood up. When you are satisfied the drop is good, push the strip in and wait for the meter to be ready. Some beep. put the strip up to the blood and let it wick up. The end needs to be full, but don't force it or your reading will be off. When you do it enough, you get a good feel for the number. If it seems off, retake it. We tried the ears, and it isn't as good a source, and the lip doesn't hurt as much as you think. You can find a youtube out there too.
3. Only letting him eat 2 or three times a day, concurrently with shots help.
We have found our dog runs highest during the night, so we split his food up 1/2 in the morning with morning shot, 1/8 in the early afternoon, and 3/8 at night time shot.
4. Make a chart to record your readings. You are going to be like a scientist and you need data. The readings, his behavior, what you feed him, his activities, stressful times, all relate to his sugar control. The hardest part is interpreting the data. Try to notice patterns.
5. Do find a vet that is informative, but inform yourself. Vet time is expensive, and it is very important that you observe and take notes.
6. Blood sugar fluctuates also, insulin is a hormone, so when you home test your meter may be 10-15% different from the lab. Remember to combine the number with your dog's behavior.
7. Meter strips are kind of delicate. Handle with care, keep in an even environment and the container with unused strips closed.

8. You can take care of your pet, it takes a little patience, but it becomes routine (as you can tell from my story).

9. Your dog is giving you an opportunity to learn about diabetes. If you are not familiar with it, you will be and it will help you understand friends and family that have this disease.

Sorry if this is long or confusing. I know when my dog was first diagnosed, I was scared too,

[Pojo]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

2. Make sure to wash and thoroughly rinse and dry your hands before handling strips...

You need a little bubble of blood to make sure the strip can wick the blood up...

When you are satisfied the drop is good, push the strip in and wait for the meter to be ready...

The end needs to be full, but don't force it or your reading will be off...

When you do it enough, you get a good feel for the number. If it seems off, retake it...

Meter strips are kind of delicate. Handle with care.

Winston offered a lot of excellent advice, my quote above is what I have also observed and practice in obtaining BG samples.

[kcdelight419]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

my vet was not good in helping me figure out what to feed mickey he told me to feed him wet food twice a day and have the dry food out so he can eat when he wants to. From what I am reading that is not true . He also told me there was no way to test other than him testing it. Mickey has cataracs so bad he does not see any more and gets confused when he goes out side sometimes. I feel so helpless in not knowing how to take care of him. I am finding some great ideas here thank you .
kcdelight419

[RethaCarole]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

Miley (9 year old, 70#, female yellow Lab) was just diagnosed in November 2014 so I am still learning from everyone and other websites. Here is what we use:

Where you test on your dog = Elbow callous
Lances used (brand, gauge) = ReliOn Ultra-Thin 30 gauge (for sensitive fingers)
Whether you use a lancing device = No - the click scares her
Meter you use = Bayer Contour next USB This thing is amazing. It keeps track (electronically) of the glucose readings, when you gave the insulin, how much insulin was given, the number of carbs eaten. All you do is plug it into your computer, it downloads all the readings and you print reports to analyze or give to your vet. I wish I could add an attachment so you could see the report.

[Ann Renee L.]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

Mile
11 year old Chihuahua is tested on his skin tag. He does not feel anything.
I use a Relion Confirm Glucometer and lancets.
Skin tags provide plenty of blood.
:

[mocha6206]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

hello I have an 8 year old chihuhua named mocha. He was just diagnosed a few weeks ago..I feed him the hills w/d he seems to like it, and hes on Humalog 2 units twice a day. I bought a reli-on meter and I attempted to get his glucose levels today, by sticking him in his ear and he flinched but I didn't get much blood so I was able to get a reading. Do you check your dogs levels? If so what kind of meter do you use? A friend of mine had a diabetic dog and she said she never checked her dogs bg levels because she fed him consistently same amount and same food, and unlike humans, we consume all different kinds of food. I am just looking for any helpful advice. This is new to me and I gotta tell you I am scare I am going to do something wrong and he is going to suffer. Thank you for any advice Dianna

[mocha6206]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

I meant to say that I was not able to get a reading and I was wondering where do you stick your chihuhua to get a bg reading?

[mocha6206]

Re: Poll: How and Where you test your dog's blood sugar

Your vet should of never told you to leave dry food out for him to eat. I feed my dog and then give him his insulin. I would definitely not do that. My vet was very firm when he said try not to feed him more than twice a day , and feed him before you give him insulin.