Yuki has crossed the bridge Dec 2020

[YukiesMom]

I'm entering a new stage that I'm not familiar with. Yukon is not eating his food very well anymore takes encouraging. I have reduced his insulin from 13 units to 11 because his blood sugar is so low. Tonight before dinner it was 48! The lowest it ever was. One hour later after eating his whole bowl it's only 206.

What should I do?

[jesse girl]

Jesse eats one meal a day which maybe an option

There could be changes in the body as he gets older that could cause the need for less insulin

Inconsistent eating can also impact the lows and highs . Either way if numbers are below a 100 and its not an odd ball event and correlating that with the highs in a lower range I would continue to reduce the dose.

[Riliey and Mo]

you could add a topper like salmon see if he eats more

[YukiesMom]

I have been putting boiled chicken on it with a little bit of reduced sodium chicken broth in for a while he was eating that really good.
He eventually eats his food but like tonight his blood sugar was 78 and he didn't want to eat. He eats his meals at 6 AM and 6 PM or should I say he did eat his meals at 6 AM and 6 PM. Tonight he ate about 7 o'clock all of his food and I took his blood sugar at 8 o'clock and it was 363 so I gave him 8 1/2 units of insulin. I am basically just guessing how much to give him.

I was thinking about maybe buying some dog treats for him to eat so if his blood sugar goes too low and he doesn't wanna eat his meal I can give him a couple treats what are your thoughts on that?

[jesse girl]

Yes allot of managing a dogs diabetes is more of an art than science and we do allot of guessing . Remember it takes about 5 days for a dose to settle and see the true response to the dose decrease

That is interesting he did not want to eat with lower numbers . You would have thought the opposite . I give my jesse a milk bone with no meal and insulin in morning and it works well for her .Its not low glycemic. It actually has molasses in it and I believe that is helpful with her numbers but I am in a small camp with that thought with thinking insulin needs to be fed quickly

Let us know how the decrease goes and hope for a good outcome

[YukiesMom]

He is still not eating right away and it has been a challenge. He has overgrowth in his outer gum area and the vet said it is gingival hyperplasia. I am wondering if that is what is causing this loss in appetite.

I googled the condition and it said one of the causes of this could be diabetes. Has anyone had a diabetic dog that came down with this condition.

[jesse girl]

Is there treatments or is it something you have to live with ? will it become more prevalent over time ? The other part is it affecting eating and will you need to find a solution to that with a food thats easier to eat . As you know with jesse she only eats one meal a day so that is an option if yuki would be good with one meal . There is always options and ways to modify routines to new challenges

[Raysaint]

Gum disease can cause some tenderness in the gums, so if it's painful to eat, soft food would be better.
But aside from that, some dogs, like mine, go thru periods where he has to coaxed to eat his breakfast. Not sure why. The other day, Riley only ate half his breakfast, so I just adjusted his insulin.

[YukiesMom]

So our new normal is to check his blood sugar before every meal and then feed him. Sometimes he eats half sometimes he eats 3/4 and sometimes nothing so I have to figure out when to give him his insulin. Of course he is not regulated anymore which is very upsetting after a year of having him regulated. I think he has lost more sight in his eyes so we have baby gates everywhere. I have learned over the years with this disease to test a lot and adjust accordingly.

Recently I have to wake him up in the morning and put the food in front of him ans just pray that he eats. That has not been the case for him being in the past since he has Cushing's as well he normally ate a ton.

Sometimes it might be a couple hours in between that he eats the rest of his food. So I have to wait until his blood sugar gets to so I have to wait until his blood sugar gets to a certain level before I give him insulin.

[jesse girl]

As I suggested You could switch to one meal a day . Jesse has done that for her almost entire diabetic life . Its funny she would gladly eat twice a day or more but its the only way I could get her regulated . Others have done it with finicky eaters with success

You just have to figure the time when appetite is at its best and even if its still a bit of a struggle with one meal the other 12 hours without a meal should be better blood sugar because it is consistent . Jesses best blood sugar is the 12 hours without a meal but she does have a vita bone snack to keeps things stable

You work with what you got and as you know as long as it is consistent it usually can work .