Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

[mocha6206]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

my dog a male chihuhua was just diagnosed this past Saturday and let me tell you I have cried and cried over this. although I do have to say he has been a trooper. He lets me do what I have to do to him and just sits on my lap quietly. I am so afraid for his future. He is on humulin-N twice a day and its a little amount as he only weighs 6 pounds. I am switching him to Humalog tomorrow because I have access to that and can not afford the Humulin-N at $136 dollars a vial and that's at Walmart. I am hoping this works and my vet has also been pushing the hills W/D, my dog has had no problem eating it so I guess I will stick to that. Mocha also has a lump in his chest. His WBC is low so I am fearing the very worst and preparing myself for the worst case possible. I can't begin to tell you how devastating it was to hear that news. I have been sick with worry have lost sleep because I am constantly getting up to check on him. I am glad I found this forum, I have been able to find a lot of useful information that vets sometimes won't tell you.

[OshaGaelios]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

I received a notice from K9 about your post. I just want to let you know that I am hoping the best for your Chihuahua, Mocha. My girl was diagnosed about 3.5years ago. She's now 13 years old, is a cancer survivor and survived a near death experience with a serious gastrointestinal infection. Though I'm not often an active participant on the forum, I can say the feed back I've received has been supportive and very insightful when I've participated. I have battled with insulin resistance with my girl. What I've found out is that when she begins resisting insulin its been due to an infection like urinary tract, etc. The assumption has been confirmed by blood tests that typically confirm a low WBC. I also feed WD, mixed in with a homemade diet I cook for her that is comprised of lean beef, chicken breast, spinach, green beans and barley. This diet has really helped her. I do know from experience, that when I was only feeding her the kibble WD and canned WD, her BG level was always running on the high side. I believe that the homemade diet has help manage her BG levels. She uses Novalin N insulin. This insulin is sold a Walmart for $25 a vile and it manages her BG. I truly hope your Mocha is able to recover and that Mocha's quality of life remains good and well. My very best to you. I too experienced the feeling of devastation, helplessness and anguish when my girl was diagnosed with diabetes. If you are able to stabilize the WBC, I am hopeful that you'll be able to manage the diabetes in a manner that's best for your Mocha. The best to you and your boy.

[Ann Renee L.]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

my dog a male chihuhua was just diagnosed this past Saturday and let me tell you I have cried and cried over this. although I do have to say he has been a trooper. He lets me do what I have to do to him and just sits on my lap quietly. I am so afraid for his future. He is on humulin-N twice a day and its a little amount as he only weighs 6 pounds. I am switching him to Humalog tomorrow because I have access to that and can not afford the Humulin-N at $136 dollars a vial and that's at Walmart. I am hoping this works and my vet has also been pushing the hills W/D, my dog has had no problem eating it so I guess I will stick to that. Mocha also has a lump in his chest. His WBC is low so I am fearing the very worst and preparing myself for the worst case possible. I can't begin to tell you how devastating it was to hear that news. I have been sick with worry have lost sleep because I am constantly getting up to check on him. I am glad I found this forum, I have been able to find a lot of useful information that vets sometimes won't tell you.

Hello,
I have a 6lbs Chihuahua with diabetes. He just started on Novolin N. I am hoping he can get regulated.
I hope things get better for you.
Ann and Mile

[Rylie's mom]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Rylie is my 4 1/2 year old, 104 pound, female Rottweiler, diagnosed on 01/30/15. She had started to put her nose up at meal time. She would eat most of it but left alot behind. We had just had an electrical fire at the house and had to stay in a hotel for a week. Just smoke damage.( No big deal for her, she travels with us everywhere) but, I assumed maybe she picked up a parisite or bug from the dog droppings of those who DON'T pick up. Rylie is up to date on everything. Two days after we came home she started to vomit. Went to the vet, he checked her, we talked and he two thought a bug or bugs.
That night she really became sick. I have never seen a dog vomit so much. I kept her fluids up thru the night and at the vet first thing. Blood work was a mess. She had Severe Pancreatitis, her BG was thru the roof and her ketone was off the chart. She was dying. Three days and thousands at the emergency vet, she came home because we had no more $$. Not because we wanted to bring her home on a Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday no less, we had no choice. THEY REFUSED TO TREAT. Pay first, treat second, we emptied every account and even though we gave them $3000.00 + in cash less than 36 hours before out the door we went!! Yes, I'm bitter.
ok, started on Novolin N 12units 2x a day, boiled chicken and white rice, 1/4 cup every two hours because of her pancreatitis, antibiotics as well. BG stayed in the high 400's - 600's the
First 7 days. Then went to w/d 2cups twice a day. Her BG stayed high so we started to slowly increase her insolin 1unit every other day.
When I read the lable of the hills w/d, I was floored at the poor quality. So I began to study lables. On 02/28/15 I changed her food not her dosage. Her numbers are looking better than ever. I am feeding her Blue Buffalo, Life Protection Formula, Healthy Weight Adult in the yellow and blue bag. 20% crude protein, 9% fat, 10% fiber. Yes, the fiber could be a bit higher however, healthy treats give natural fiber.
I learned here that if you use the Relion Prime Meter, multiply your BG reading by point 7, and your number will be as close to the number from one coded for Dogs. At 20 units of Novolin N 2x a day, her numbers are a in the 200's and steady thru 12 hours. Thanks to this site and all of you sharing, You taught me to help save my Rylie's life. THANK YOU!

[CraigM]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

I copied this post into Rylie's other thread. Best to keep her posts in a single thread so we can go back and review her "story".

http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6199

Rylie is my 4 1/2 year old, 104 pound, female Rottweiler, diagnosed on 01/30/15. She had started to put her nose up at meal time. She would eat most of it but left alot behind. We had just had an electrical fire at the house and had to stay in a hotel for a week. Just smoke damage.( No big deal for her, she travels with us everywhere) but, I assumed maybe she picked up a parisite or bug from the dog droppings of those who DON'T pick up. Rylie is up to date on everything. Two days after we came home she started to vomit. Went to the vet, he checked her, we talked and he two thought a bug or bugs.
That night she really became sick. I have never seen a dog vomit so much. I kept her fluids up thru the night and at the vet first thing. Blood work was a mess. She had Severe Pancreatitis, her BG was thru the roof and her ketone was off the chart. She was dying. Three days and thousands at the emergency vet, she came home because we had no more $$. Not because we wanted to bring her home on a Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday no less, we had no choice. THEY REFUSED TO TREAT. Pay first, treat second, we emptied every account and even though we gave them $3000.00 + in cash less than 36 hours before out the door we went!! Yes, I'm bitter.
ok, started on Novolin N 12units 2x a day, boiled chicken and white rice, 1/4 cup every two hours because of her pancreatitis, antibiotics as well. BG stayed in the high 400's - 600's the
First 7 days. Then went to w/d 2cups twice a day. Her BG stayed high so we started to slowly increase her insolin 1unit every other day.
When I read the lable of the hills w/d, I was floored at the poor quality. So I began to study lables. On 02/28/15 I changed her food not her dosage. Her numbers are looking better than ever. I am feeding her Blue Buffalo, Life Protection Formula, Healthy Weight Adult in the yellow and blue bag. 20% crude protein, 9% fat, 10% fiber. Yes, the fiber could be a bit higher however, healthy treats give natural fiber.
I learned here that if you use the Relion Prime Meter, multiply your BG reading by point 7, and your number will be as close to the number from one coded for Dogs. At 20 units of Novolin N 2x a day, her numbers are a in the 200's and steady thru 12 hours. Thanks to this site and all of you sharing, You taught me to help save my Rylie's life. THANK YOU!

[gammagray]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Hooper is a 21 lb mini schnauzer x brussels griffin.
He eats 50gm Hill's w/d dry and 160gm Hills's w/d wet. His treats are cubes of roast beef or chicken, and the occasional boiled egg.
He takes 8 units of Caninsulin x 2 daily.
I have been using an Alphatrak2 Meter with the Freestyle Lite test strips for his curves.
He was diagnosed 7 months ago and with a change in diet recently we are getting better #s.

[Jennifer'sDaisy]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Dog's name, breed: Daisy, Rat Terrier

Dog's weight: 14 pounds

Diet: W/D canned food, 1/2 can 2x daily and W/D dry food, free feeding (she didn't eat much of it because of her tiny teeth and their relatively large kibble size - they really need to offer this food in a "tiny kibbles" version IMO)

Insulin: Humulin N (or any "N" type - Walmart switched to carying Novolin N partway thru her treatment which is apparently the same thing, and at $25 they're by FAR the most affordable place to buy it)

Number of units per injection and injections per day: 5.5 units 2x daily

Brand of BG meter if home testing: N/A

Daisy was diagnosed at age 9.5 and lived with diabetes until age 13.5, when she had to be put down due to a tumor that could not be removed. She lost her sight to diabetes but gained her happiness and puppylike attitude back once she was on insulin. She was very happy and young at heart for her last 4 years, once we got her diagnosed. The months leading to diagnosis were heartbreaking though.. we had no idea why she kept peeing everywhere and doing nothing but sleeping and even occasionally snapping at us - likewise we didn't know why her back legs seemed to be weak/not working at times. If only we had known sooner... which is why I am posting a bit here despite having lost her recently. I don't ever want anyone else to have to say "if only I had known".

(by the way, upon adopting her I recall the Amish family we got her from telling us that one of her parents was diabetic, and they warned us that it was likely going to be genetic. I don't know if this is often the case in dogs like with humans, but it is a good thing to be aware of. We didn't know what that might entail at the time, and it was 10 years before we found out. I was glad they had told us ahead of time, as it seemed to me to be the most honest way to adopt out a puppy and the "right thing to do". I only wish we had remembered their caution to us on the subject when Daisy began getting sick, but after ten years we had put it out of our mind. It wasn't until after we lost her that we discussed her adoption and remembered that short conversation.)

[Ann Renee L.]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Mile
9 lbs.
Chihuahua

Diet- chicken breast,lean ground boiled hamburger,low mercury fish,lean ground boiled turkey,1/2 boiled egg,
boiled broccoli, lowfat plain greek yogurt or lowfat cottage cheese,boiled black eyed peas and supplements- magnesium citrate powder,calcium citrate powder,cranberry capsules,vitamin E,
Nordic fish oil and probiotics.
*Food put in grinder.
Note- Vitamin D3 and Vitamin C not added due to oxalate stone prevention.

Insulin -Novolin N
Meter - Relion Confirm (with chart to convert from human to pet readings).

*Oxalate stone diet and supplements- Lysimachia-3
Diet information for Oxalate Stones on Dog Aware.com
Article by CJ Puotinen and Mary Strauss
*Cranberry , 1/2 capsule per meal for bladder infections.
*Saw Palmetto for prostate

[jpucherelli]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Hi Humilin N in my area is around 138 dollars, I priced Novolin N==same thing different brand for 24 dollars at Walmart---I was shocked at the difference in price

[Sallies mom]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

We are using Wal-Mart brand....New diabetic diagnosis,just started 4 days ago. Any ideas if this is a good product?

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Test with Alphatrack 2 normally, also One Touch Ultra, add 1. to equal animal meter. Feed Fromm Surf and Turf 1/2 cup inject 5 1/2 units Humulin nph every 12 hours.

[Christinschu]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

My mini Dachshund Cornelius was diagnosed April 2nd. He had a 4 night stay in the hospital with Ketoacidosis.

Weight: 17.8lb Miniature Dachshund.
Diet: Main diet is Taste of the Wild (Bison and Venison dry). He's currently on Hills Prescription Digestive Care Wet because of a stomach problem.
Insulin: Novolin N 7 units twice per day
Tester: CVS advance

He's not been regulated yet. His blood still tests from 300 to over 600. Though it has slowly been going down week over week.

It is discouraging that we've had to raise his insulin dose so high and still see minimal results.

[Ozzy's Mum]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Hi,

I'm new to the world of canine diabetes as Ozzy was just diagnosed this week.

Ozzy, Miniature Pinscher
10lbs
Chicken, Brown rice, green beans, cottage cheese, and supplemented with dry kibbles with Turkey and Brown rice as main ingredients.
Vetsulin, 2 units every 12 hours
Waiting for delivery of One Touch Ultra2, after reading this site's product suggestions.

Hoping Ozzy and I can successfully control his diabetes with minimal vet interaction, but we shall wait and see.

Best to all.

[Jassi]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Dog's name, breed: Jässi, Rottweiler 6 yeasr old
Dog's weight: around 40 kg
Diet: Hills low fat, now trying Royal Canine Senior
Insulin: Protaphane Flexpen
Number of units per injection and injections per day:2 shots, in the morning 15 units and evening 10 units
Brand of BG meter if home testing: Accu Check preforma (for humans)

Jässi was diagnosed this year in Mars, he got it from cortisone. We have not found the rigt way yet he has still way too high bloodsugar, very frustraiting. With the food its also difficult he has never been overwieight and he lost 8 kg, no he is up to 38 kg but loosing muscle.

[Rusty (Bobba) mom]

Re: Your dog's diet, insulin, and meter used

Rusty Brown Lab Daschund Mix 5 yrs old
30 Lbs. Purina DCO 1 cup 2x a day
HUMULIN N 5 1/2 units 2x a day
Diagnosed March 2015
AlphaTrak2
Frozen String Beans after shot as a treat