Newly diagnosed

[Sassys Mom]

Hi! Our 7 yr old female mixed breed dog Sassy was diagnosed almost 3 weeks ago. I am used to medical issues with pets but this is our first with diabetes. My husband is really freaked out. He is upset that she may go blind and is worried about her response to the insulin so far. Last year she was bitten by a mojave green rattle snake and miraculously survived. Then she was diagnosed last year with low thyroid. She lost weight but then kept losing weight, plus increase of drinking and urinating. She was diagnosed with diabetes and we started her on her special food and 7 units of humalin. When we started her blood sugar was 584. Then after the first week it was 594 and increased to 8 units. Today it was 610 and we are at 9 units. I am told it takes a while to regulate it but my husband is really upset. Please share some facts and reasurrance. She is eating just fine as always (food hound) romping in our yard and house with her sister, urinating less and her terribly cracked nose is healing up....she still has energy and personality but she is a rack of bones and lost another pound this week.

[CraigM]

Re: Newly diagnosed

Welcome!
I only have a few minutes before I have to leave the house for awhile, but I'm sure others will check in with you as the evening progresses.

A couple of quick questions. How much does Sassy weigh? You are feeding twice a day, 12 hours apart? What is the food she's eating? Between meal snacks? Any other medical conditions / medications?

Sorry that I've got to run. I'll log back into the forum a little later. Again, welcome and you've found a good forum.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Newly diagnosed

Welcome to Sassy and you and your husband! Sorry you are freaking out... most of us do in the beginning.

It would be helpful to tell us how much Sassy weighs - that would give some indication whether the insulin dose is a good starting one or too high or too low.

As far as readings, it sounds like the vet hasn't done a curve?

Spot checks don't tell you much. You know at that moment that the blood sugar is high but you don't know if it is dropping at other times of day and you're just catching it at a high point or whether it's high all of the time.

Sometimes a dog's food and insulin use aren't well matched and the blood sugar can be starting at 580, dropping to 250, and then rising back to 600. There are ways to fix that but first you need to know whether that's what your dog's blood sugar is doing.

So Sassy needs a blood glucose curve done.

She can also be tested at home if she's reasonabley cooperative. It's surprising actually how many dogs, even ones who don't do well with much handling, often take well to testing blood sugar at home using a hand held meter.

Once we figure out whether the insulin dose seems about right for her weight, we can talk from there about what might be going on.

I do believe that starting with less insulin than you think a dog will need and working the dose UP gradually and in small increments, with 5-7 days minimum between increases, is the best way to regulate a diabetic dog as long as ketones aren't present in any more than trace. It's the fastest way too because you don't overshoot the right dose. So I hope that's the approach the vet has been taking.

Her body will need time to adjust to having insulin again. So the first response you get to a dose of insulin isn't necessarily the long-term response. That's why it's important to wait about a week between dose changes. And when the blood sugar has been high for a while, as it seems like hers has been, the body gets a bit resistant to the effect of any insulin - the body's own or injected. Once you get enough insulin in them every day to get the blood sugar down into more like 200s and 300s, that resistance goes away. So she may not be very sensitive to insulin now but will be more so later.

So fill us in with as much detail as you can.

If Sassy weighs less than 20 pounds, I'd be worried that the dose is too high and she might actually be having rebound hyperlgycemia.

http://www.caninediabetes.org/pdorg/somogyi.htm

Natalie

[Shellie]

Re: Newly diagnosed

Welcome to Sassy and you and your husband! You've found a fantastic place to get SO much info on taking care of Sassy!

One thing to keep in mind...especially for your husband...is that this is a disease of patience. It takes time to get things regulated and even tho you may want to go full speed ahead...you have to just have patience and take things slowly. Put this way...if you go too fast, give too much insulin too soon, you can kill your dog. Sad but true.

So take deep breath! We'll give you all the help we can! Hugs and welcome again!

[Patty]

Re: Newly diagnosed

Just wanted to extend my welcome to you and Sassy!

[jim maceri]

Re: Newly diagnosed

Welcome to a great place for support and info. Tell your husband we ALL freaked out in the beginning and patience is truly a virtue when it comes to diabetes. You will find the right dose in time. Give us as much info as you can..
Food, times of meals, weight, exercise routine ect..

The wealth of knowledge here is amazing and we are all in this together so feel free to ask lots of questions and simply vent when you need to.

[Cebe]

Re: Newly diagnosed

Welcome! Yes, this is a disease of patience. My dog inst fullly regulated yet but she's regulated enough at the moment to be out of danger. I'm in the fine tuning stage. So focus on getting the sugar lower but be patient with the process. It really does take time and rushing can be detremental.

You guys are in the right place here.

[CarolW]

Re: Newly diagnosed

Adding my welcome to the others already sent to you! I'll be looking forward to learning more about your dog - weight, for instance (current weight).

Also, feel free to tell us all about your dog ANYWAY! It's like being in a big extended family here. I thought Natalie's post to you was top-notch, as usual!

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:12:10 (PST)