Angel Mochi December 2020

[Lchow022]

Hi there,

My dog Mochi is a 8 year old 10lb pomeranian. He was diagnosed with diabetes last year around Feb. He started with 2 units and had very good blood sugar for a while. He had cataract surgery in July and then had to get his left eye done again due to my niece throwing a ball at his eye by accident. His blood sugar started going up again during October when I went in to get his curve done. He stayed at 23-26mmol (400's mg)the entire day. My vet increased 1 unit of his insulin and it seemed to work and got him back down again so everything has been good until last week on March 2nd when he went in for a curve again. His numbers went from 12-30's mmol (200-600s mg). My vet increased his insulin to one unit and we had to get his blood sugar checked everyday because of how high it was. It stayed high in the mid 20's mmol (500's mg) on Friday the day after and on Saturday things started going well. His blood sugar had gone down a bit to the 15-17 mmol (300's mg) from morning til before his dinner. After dinner we gave his is 4 units and we checked his bloodsugar again and it went down to 5.8mmol (105mg). Sunday morning we checked again and it was at 4.8mmol (85mg) so I got a little scared and gave him 3 units instead..We checked again right before dinner Sunday night and it was at 7.9mmol (166mg). So we gave him 3 units again..My vet was gone on holidays so I had to talk to the other vet that I don't really trust. He told me 3 units is too much and I should've just given him 1 or 2 units. I started panicking and he said just give him more food..So I ended up giving him an extra ounce of food...The next morning on Monday morning we checked again and it jumped back up to 20mmol (366mg)..I automatically thought it was because of the extra food we gave him the night before. So I told my dad to give him 3.5 units of insulin. We checked his blood sugar again right before dinner and it had dropped back down to 11.9mmol (215mg). I was a bit relieved..so i thought 3.5 units was the good number of insulin to give him. We stayed at 3.5 and didn't check his blood sugars for the week since I only have 2 test strips left. Yesterday we finally took it again before dinner and shockingly it was up at 28.9mmol (520mg)...I gave him 4 units of insulin and my vet told me to continue giving him 4 units and stop adjusting and changing doses. I'm so worried and having major anxiety now because I don't know why it could spike up like that...Please let me know what I should be doing next..?

Thank you,
Lina

[jesse girl]

Re: need some good advice for regulating blood sugar..

hi and welcome

i have seen something similar with my jesse just in the last few months raising the dose to higher numbers which actually made her sugar more unstable

so i actually dramatically reduced her dose and stuck with it to let it settle and her numbers came in at a good range and a very low dose for her size

you are kind of bouncing around with the dose and food and grabbing at straws i understand how you feel but you have a plan that you ca stick to to determine if what you are attempting will stabilize things

the dose may have been to much at 2 units and it took time for it to catch up to the body . there are times i only give my jesse 1.5 unit at a time for a 25 pound dog ( quite small for a dog her size ) to give some perspective on what can occur . of course that can be comparing apples to oranges because each dog has there own form of regulation and jesses is quite unique

[amydunn19]

Re: need some good advice for regulating blood sugar..

I think four units might be high considering how he reacted. The vet is correct in recommending that you keep his dose the same as much as possible. But it is important if you test before the shot and he is below 100, I think you must reduce the dose. Just don't reduce it so much. I always tried to make subtle changes even though I might be panicking. I never adjusted to compensate for higher numbers until I could see a full curve and establish that it was necessary on a daily basis. High numbers don't really affect dogs as much as human diabetics and low numbers are the dangerous ones. Also, if you do feed a low, don't overcompensate. With all adjustments, just try to keep a light hand. That way, the reaction won't be so extreme.

If you can get restock your strips, after four - five days at one dose, then do a curve and see where you are.

[Lchow022]

Re: need some good advice for regulating blood sugar..

Thank you for messaging back!

I don't think reducing the dose worked since I reduced it to 3.5 units for the past week and his blood sugar was at 520 yesterday. My vet said to just stick with 4 units for the week first and see how it goes..I've been panicking every time I take a blood glucose test and see high numbers. My dog is very hard to get blood from and we have to take it from his legs which is really hard to find the vein..My dad usually does the poking and I hold him. His temper has changed completely towards us. My dad will be going away for a month next week and I am panicking to get his blood sugar down so I won't stress as much without my parents. Should I be bringing him to the vet more often since my dad won't be here to help me with his blood sugars? He freaks out when he's at the vet as well..he hates it there since he was hospitalized for 2-3 weeks last year.

I haven't changed his diet at all since he was hospitalized last year. He has been on Royal canine HP for the longest time and we give him 4 ounces of food morning and night. I'm just trying to figure out why his blood sugar isn't stable..especially when I thought we got it right last weekend when it went back down...

[Lchow022]

What should I do?...

Hi all,

My dog Mochi's blood sugars have been pretty up and down the past few weeks and I'm still constantly worrying. Now I have a bigger problem..
My dad (the main caretaker/mans bestfriend) is going on vacation for a month next week. I will have to step in and take care of my two dogs for the month. Mochi wakes up at 4-5:30 am and he would eat and go back to sleep til 10 or 11am. However, I don't know what to do now because I have work at 9-6..my companies pretty cool because we're allowed to bring our dogs to work so I'm thinking about bringing both of my dogs to work with me so at least I can take Mochi out to pee every few hours.
Big problem is Mochi does not get a long with any dogs except my older dog Krunky. If he hears the slightest dog sound he will go crazy and bark forever. People at my work bring their dogs and I know Mochi will go crazy and I think it'll stress him out a lot..(which will spike his sugar levels up?).

I heard that anything from big to small can stress out a diabetic dog and cause his blood sugars to go high.
I need major advice for this..should I bring him to work wth me or leave him at home hoping he will pee on the pee pad? He doesn't like peeing on the pee pads and he hasn't had any accidents in the house since he was diagnosed with diabetes. I'm also worried he might hold in his pee for too long and end up getting a UTI...HELP GUYS!

-Lina

[Judi]

Re: What should I do?...

could you take him as a test run if your bosses will let you leave to take him home?

i think if its a failure you have no choice but to leave him home. you can get adjustable fencing at petco if you need to block off carpeted areas

[jesse girl]

Re: What should I do?...

the what ifs doesnt matter until you try . i would not worry about spiking sugar low sugar is the immediate problem . if testing blood sugar that will tell you what to do so if your are i would not worry about sugar if your not i still think things will be ok

i guess the big thing is the barking and if it can be done socially . it may take a few day to really know

i definitely would not do it just because of the possibility of spiking blood sugar . to me if possible being with a diabetic dog is better than not in case they might need a boost in sugar if it goes to low

[Lchow022]

Re: What should I do?...

Thank you for the response Judi and Jesse. I'm more worried about him holding in his urine if no one is home to let him out. I will be gone for 8-9 hours and I don't think he will go on the pee pad. Will he get a UTI if he holds his pee in too often?

I definitely will try and bring him to work first..hoping things will work out. He's definitely a handful and a cry baby without my dad around.

[MomofGus]

Re: What should I do?...

Would you be able to make a quick trip home on your lunch break to let go potty mid-day? Don't know how far you are from work. I have done that many times, even if I was only there 10-15 minutes. It at least gave chance to potty.

[wild lady wolf]

Re: need some good advice for regulating blood sugar..

There are different areas where you can take a drop of blood from. I use the upper paws on the dual claw because it is easy! Also helps to use the thickest you can find to poke your pup once.

A reward (small piece of diabetic treat) is a great way to get their cooperation. And I will go as far as individually wrap each dry kibble with grilled chicken to get Mr Shadow to eat, because not every morning he wants to eat at 4:30

[Lchow022]

Question regarding high blood sugar...

Hi everyone,

My dog mochi was doing quite well the past week with his blood sugar levels. However my dad (his best friend and main caretaker) has gone on vacation yesterday and he was crying and sad that he left. I decided to try and take him to work today but that did not work well..he was super stressed and whining like crazy majority of the day..then every hour he would go crazy and bark like a maniac when he see's or hears another dog..I think that might've stressed him out a lot today. I noticed he was drinking a lot more water than usual and now I'm getting worried that his sugar levels spiked up again...does stress and barking like a maniac cause sugar levels to go up a lot? I'm unable to take his blood right now because I'll need a helping hand to hold him. Also..how am I able to tell that my dogs drinking too much water? How much water should a 10lb dog be drinking on a daily bases?

Thank you,
Lina and Mochi

[jesse girl]

Re: Question regarding high blood sugar...

yes excitement and exercise can drop and spike blood sugar depending how much active insulin is present . more present that can drop sugar less present can spike it

hard to correlate whether the additional drinking is caused by high sugar. it may have well been the excitement and without testing sugar you just dont know for sure

even if sugar is higher thats ok . its low sugar that is immediate danger

well you tried

[Lchow022]

Re: Question regarding high blood sugar...

Thanks Jesse for getting back to me so fast. I've noticed that everytime I play with him he goes and drinks water. Hopefully it's because he's thirsty after a game of chase and tug of war. Since I'll be his care taker for the month I'll be watching him closely.

I definitely tried and exhausted myself and him today..so I'll be going home during 1:30 or so to let him pee and then head back to work. I also asked one of my friends to help me out and I'll pay him 10$ a day to just drop by my house to let mochi pee. 10$ is quite a lot since he only lives 2 minutes away but I'm desperate because I work 20-30minutes away from home.

I'll check his blood sugar again this weekend..what should I do if it's high?

Thanks again,
Lina

[jesse girl]

Re: Question regarding high blood sugar...

sounds like a good plan

if sugar is high there isnt much you can do but stick to the plan and 1 high number means very little . if its low ( anything below a 100 ) you want to give some liquid sugar like honey or corn syrup maybe a spoonful and maybe a milk bone

always understand the symptoms of low blood sugar and how to address it and might want to let the person know letting your pup out for a pee.always have liquid sugar readily available

as you can see from my post low blood sugar is the immediate danger not high and with play and exercise that can drop sugar quite dramatically my jesse could chew on a bone and drop a 100 points something to be aware of

$ 10 is not a high price to pay for piece of mind glad you found a solution

[Lchow022]

Re: Question regarding high blood sugar...

Thanks for the support and msg!

I have a random question now..I live in Vancouver Canada and it has been constantly raining...My dog was always obsessed with playing fetch and that would usually be his main exercises when it rains outside. We would play fetch on my hallway and him being a small 10lb dog he doesn't need that much exercise but he would run back and forth for at least 10 rounds.

Recently he's been playing less with the ball and constantly wanting to just play tug of war with me and a squeak toy...but i feel like he doesn't get enough exercise doing that since he's only running around me. Do you guys know if there is a way to get him to play fetch again? I'm constantly buying new squeak balls for him too but he still doesn't really care for it anymore.

Thanks all,
Lina & Mochi