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While I am new to the board, we are not new to diabetes.
Sawyer was diagnosed around 3 years ago.
Sawyer's an inside dog, has been his whole life. I brought him into the vet's office one day because I noticed that he was drinking absurd amounts of water. He went from not having any accidents in the house since he was 4 mos. to having an accident in the house almost everyday. I also noticed that he was drinking approx. 2 gallons of water a day.
It was confirmed that he was diabetic. It really made my head spin. There was so much to learn and ask and the longer the learning curve it took for me meant more harm to my dog. He was immediately put on Vetsulin and was prescribed Hills W/D.
In the next few weeks that we spent regulating his insulin, I spent a LOT of time reading. Not only about diabetes but also about diet and food ingredients!
Needless to say I was not pleased with what I had found about pet food ingredients and felt shameful that I had been feeding this dog Beneful healthy Weight Formula for years because he was ALWAYS overweight. (78 lbs. at diagnosis). Thanks to this forum and other sites like it, I came to the conclusion that Wellness Core would be the best thing for him. I found the one store that carried it for 50 miles and started feeding it immediately. (pulled him off the Hills W/D myself) The vet was astonished at how quickly his blood sugar regulated after putting him on this food. After a few months, the weight came off and now he hovers around 55-58 lbs.
Just a few weeks ago I was informed that Vetsulin would soon be unavailable to me and that we would have to search for a new insulin for Sawyer to be on. I went home and started my research. I called the vet and asked him to look into Humulin N. He was very leery of switching to a synthetic insulin, but after doing his own research came to the same conclusion. After calling around for my price checks, I settled with Novolin N from WalMart for a much better price than I was paying for Vetsulin. I was also about to switch foods as well. I know my current choice of food is not the absolute best for him, but it was a necessary financial change that had to be made.
We are still in the process of regulating his new insulin as he's only been on it for a week and a half, but we are getting very close. He's currently getting 11 Units 2x's a day of Novolin N. It looks like we will probably settle on 12 units 2x's a day even with his new food. The big seller for me on the Diamond Naturals was that they are corn free. So things seem to be on the right track and as a bonus for me, this new switch in food and insulin will be saving me about $150 a month.
Our new issue (diagnosed through x-ray's today) is arthritis. He's been 'complaining' of back pains for a week. He's been on anti-inflammatory meds but since the pain was getting worse, we decided to do some x-rays this morning. He's got severe arthritis on his spine and he's got fuses from his neck to his tail. So, now the issue is pain management for him without using cortisone. He was on Previcox this past week and will be switching to Vetprofen next week. The doc also gave him 50Mg of Tramodol for pain, which seems to be helping quite a lot.
Thank you for reading our story, and for being here. Even though this is my first time posting on this forum, I've been reading it for quite some time.
Sawyer was diagnosed around 3 years ago.
- Born - May 28, 2003 = 7 years old
- Breed - Australian Cattle Dog
- Weight - 58lbs.
- Insulin - Just switched from Vetsulin to Novolin N
- Dosage - was taking 13 units of vetsuling 2 x's a day (still reguating the Novolin)
- Diet - Just switched from Wellness Core to Diamond Naturals Senior 8+
- Allergy treatment - Chlorpheniramine 12 Mg 2 times a day.
Sawyer's an inside dog, has been his whole life. I brought him into the vet's office one day because I noticed that he was drinking absurd amounts of water. He went from not having any accidents in the house since he was 4 mos. to having an accident in the house almost everyday. I also noticed that he was drinking approx. 2 gallons of water a day.
It was confirmed that he was diabetic. It really made my head spin. There was so much to learn and ask and the longer the learning curve it took for me meant more harm to my dog. He was immediately put on Vetsulin and was prescribed Hills W/D.
In the next few weeks that we spent regulating his insulin, I spent a LOT of time reading. Not only about diabetes but also about diet and food ingredients!
Needless to say I was not pleased with what I had found about pet food ingredients and felt shameful that I had been feeding this dog Beneful healthy Weight Formula for years because he was ALWAYS overweight. (78 lbs. at diagnosis). Thanks to this forum and other sites like it, I came to the conclusion that Wellness Core would be the best thing for him. I found the one store that carried it for 50 miles and started feeding it immediately. (pulled him off the Hills W/D myself) The vet was astonished at how quickly his blood sugar regulated after putting him on this food. After a few months, the weight came off and now he hovers around 55-58 lbs.
Just a few weeks ago I was informed that Vetsulin would soon be unavailable to me and that we would have to search for a new insulin for Sawyer to be on. I went home and started my research. I called the vet and asked him to look into Humulin N. He was very leery of switching to a synthetic insulin, but after doing his own research came to the same conclusion. After calling around for my price checks, I settled with Novolin N from WalMart for a much better price than I was paying for Vetsulin. I was also about to switch foods as well. I know my current choice of food is not the absolute best for him, but it was a necessary financial change that had to be made.
We are still in the process of regulating his new insulin as he's only been on it for a week and a half, but we are getting very close. He's currently getting 11 Units 2x's a day of Novolin N. It looks like we will probably settle on 12 units 2x's a day even with his new food. The big seller for me on the Diamond Naturals was that they are corn free. So things seem to be on the right track and as a bonus for me, this new switch in food and insulin will be saving me about $150 a month.
Our new issue (diagnosed through x-ray's today) is arthritis. He's been 'complaining' of back pains for a week. He's been on anti-inflammatory meds but since the pain was getting worse, we decided to do some x-rays this morning. He's got severe arthritis on his spine and he's got fuses from his neck to his tail. So, now the issue is pain management for him without using cortisone. He was on Previcox this past week and will be switching to Vetprofen next week. The doc also gave him 50Mg of Tramodol for pain, which seems to be helping quite a lot.
Thank you for reading our story, and for being here. Even though this is my first time posting on this forum, I've been reading it for quite some time.
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