Patty's Ali - my precious, beautiful angel

[k9diabetes]

Re: My Ali girl and question about basal insulins

The Bravo sounds good.... the way I understood it, you could customize the carbs and vegies with it, which would be ideal with a diabetic dog, being able to experiment to find what combination works best.

Journals are worth their weight in gold! Glad you're keeping a detailed one.

Sorry there's so much turmoil in your life at the moment... I know everyone will be happier when things settle a bit.

Natalie

[Patty]

Update on Patty's Ali

Hi all. I haven't posted on Ali in quite some time. This was our previous thread for some background http://k9diabetes.com/forum/showthre...hlight=levemir when I was looking into changing insulins.

We are still using Humulin N and have had some tweaking going on with Ali’s food/insulin match. She’s on a raw food diet that is 85% pheasant 15% produce with strict no grains (they all left her miserably itchy) to help her allergies, so it’s a challenge to match the insulin without the typical carbs to carry her through. I found that pumpkin didn’t carry her through the low and left us with 300-400s preshot.

She has had times where she dips too low during the peak of her insulin. If I back off ¼ unit, she runs too high for most of the day. If I move up her second meal so it’s there to prevent the drop, she starts running in the high 200s consistently. She’s quite a bouncer. So I’ve been playing around with what will keep her more on the level.

I’ve found blueberries seem to be the magic food for us. I cut them in half when I give them to her or she swallows them whole and they come out looking the same way they went in

Here’s some of our playing around when she’d dropped low:
2/28
156 6:00p Food/insulin
74 10:20p Next meal + 4 blueberries
71 10:55p
99 12:20p
244 6:15a
4 was too much

3/4
195 6:05p Food/Insulin
163 10:00p 2nd meal + 1 blueberry (1 was not enough, too low in the morning to inject)
3/5
99 6:10a Food – waited to inject
194 6:43a Insulin
156 10:30a 2nd meal + 2 blueberries (2 seems to be the magic number)
148 4:40p
202 6:20p Food/insulin

I’ve been able to duplicate these numbers without the previous low. I’m hoping they continue!

I'd talked to Natalie about this the other day...I recently spoke with Ali's vet about doing the ACTH stim test (full adrenal panel) on Ali to tell us where her reproductive hormones are. Ali has had vulvar itchiness ever since soon after she was spayed. It was always considered part of her allergies as this is where she comes in contact with everything, but it has been suggested perhaps the enlarged vulva is due to another endocrine disorder or maybe even an ovarian remnant.

It is an issue because she wants to scoot when outside and lick if I’m not watching. And, now with the diabetes, this can create big issue with UTIs. I actually have to put a T-shirt on her when we leave the house to keep her ‘quiet’. The question becomes if she tests positive, what would we do about it? Melatonin is one suggestion that may help. Our vet didn't think she wanted to go with the typical drugs just looking at her. She doesn't have any of the typical symptoms of a cushnoid dog. If there’s an ovarian remnant, surgery is the only option to remove it and I won’t put her through that. She’s been on just about every antihistamine out there. We’ve changed foods numerous times. She’s on fish oil to reduce inflammation. I’ve decided it would be worth it to rule out a hormonal issue. My vet is going to call us Monday to hopefully set it up for the following Monday.

Natalie, I know Chris was sensitive to many things. Did he or do you know of other dogs that have had an adverse/allergic reaction to the ACTH stim gel? We were planning to use the gel intramuscularly as I've heard there is less of a chance of reaction than doing it IV. Any long term effects anyone knows of?

Thanks,
Patty

[Ginny Dudek]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Looks like you're doing a fine job of tuning Ali. I know that home testing made a world of difference for my Starz. Starz had a very healthy lifestyle living with diabetes for many years, and then suddenly died from stomach cancer. Today I'm watching a friends diabetic dog. With 2 babies in the house, they've been overwhelmed. I used to lip test my dog, because she was easy to test that way. Sherpa is not so easy, so I'm testing calused spots on him.
Ginny

[k9diabetes]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Hi Patty,

I'm gonna merge your two threads after I post this - we like to keep everything together!

Chris did not have any reaction to the ACTH stim other than significantly elevated blood sugar for about three days afterward. It seems to me that some folks have had concerns after the test with their dogs but I am not certain about that.

The better place for your question about ACTH reactions is the Cushings forum...

www.caninecushings.net

I don't think there's a delay there in signing up and posting. But if there is let me know and I will post the question for you. There's tons of experience there with ACTH tests so they could be much more helpful.

Natalie

[eyelostit]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Hi Patty,

I did have success with Orijen adult with putting some weight on Niki, I've been using it for quite some time, it has potatoes and sweet potatoes in it, but i use veggies and turkey with it, and prev maybe some br. rice or other dog food.

If you look at my last post today I was weaning Niki off some Orijen and adding Nutro Senior (her old standby food), I believe the Orijen is good and I think we needed abit more insulin for that with the potatoes and fruit in it.

Sorry Ali has allergies, just a thought, I don't know if Ali would be allergic to this.

Take care
Dolly

[Patty]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Ginny, I'm sorry to learn about Starz. It think it's wonderful what you're doing for Sherpa today.

Natalie, thanks for merging the two. I didn't know how to change the title as I didn't think it fit anymore so started a new thread. I will head over to the cushings board and see what they have to say.

Thanks for the info Dolly. I'm hoping we've found a good balance for right now. But Ali does tend to throw off days. Just tonight she tested quite a bit higher. Hoping she'll be back on track tomorrow.

Patty

[k9diabetes]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

I will check with one of my nonadministrator logins... I believe that you are allowed to "Edit Thread" under the Thread Tools tab and change the tible of the thread if you are the one that started it.

Natalie

Update... nope, doesn't allow it. I'm going to see if I can change that. Might not be able to but I will try as I'd like people to be able to change the title of the thread.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Crud... it can't be set up that way. But it's very easy for Kathy or I to merge the threads so you can either start a new one and we will merge them or PM us and ask us to change the title of the thread and what you'd like it changed to!

Natalie

[Patty]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Thanks Natalie. Will do.

[Margaret Boyle]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Patti,
Just to let you know Lucy's cultures have came back all clear, I am over the moon. Maybe now we will start getting some where. I have not spoke to you for a wee while I hope Niki is well I am still a bit confused with all the threads and posts. I get a bit lost ( it's senior years ) I will have to look in the
forum rules again. I have been busy doing some interesting reading but it will take me forever as there is so much.
I will have to look in some of the threads and see what is going on.


LOL

[Patty]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Hi all! I haven't updated on Ali in a while...

We were looking into the ACTH stim test to see where her adrenal hormone levels were due to her vulvar itchiness. Just as I'd decided to go ahead with the test, my grandfather passed away and I had to cancel. For whatever reason, over the next few weeks the itchiness decreased and is not bothering her like it was before. Yea! So I decided to hold off on the test.

Unfortunately, the blueberries stopped working for us in keeping her curves level, so we tried some other things like sweet potato. Sweet potato sent her soaring late in her curve like the pumpkin had without affecting the middle lows. So, I decided to look for something with more immediate action that would be a quicker in and out. Mango seems to be our new magic food.

She has started running higher in general over the last week and a half though. I bumped up her insulin again. We'll see if this helps in the next few days. I get some good numbers then she settles back into the low 300s. I've spot checked her in between and I'm pretty sure she's not rebounding.

We are headed to the vet this afternoon to check out a "growth" I noticed on her tail this weekend when I gave her a bath. It's pretty red. I'm wondering if it isn't a cyst. Hoping it's nothing to worry about. I may have them take a urine sample while she's there to rule out UTI with our higher numbers.

Take care,
Patty and Ali

[k9diabetes]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Hey Patty!

You might recall Marianne's Pebbles. Like a few dogs with Cushings, she would respond to a dose of insulin for a little while and then bounce back up into the 300s and 400s. This can be an indication that Cushings is present so if it continues and there isn't some other identifiable cause, I would definitely do the adrenal test.

Were you gonna do the full adrenal panel through University of Tennessee? That would be ideal as it also would check for atypical Cushings and it's exactly the same series of blood tests, just has to be sent to University of Tennessee to Dr. Oliver's lab for additional analysis of the sex hormones.

So how hard is it to get mangos year round?!?!

The growth sounds like maybe a wart... oddly, Marianne's Pebbles had one of these too.

Let us know what the vet appointment turns up.

I am sorry to hear about your grandfather...

Natalie

[Patty]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Thanks Natalie.

Yep. That's exactly what we were going to do, the full adrenal panel at UTK. We didn't feel she showed any of the typical signs other than the itchy vulva that made us question her reproductive hormones. I didn't realize that about the bouncing numbers and cushings though. Good to watch for.

The only time she's been in the 400s was with raging infection. She's really on a small dose of insulin and I have room to bump her up. I sometimes go too slow because she's been so sensitive in the past, which may be the case this time.

She was on 9u for a long time and suddenly needed less. We've been at 8 for a while and it seems she's needing more again...

Vet did a cysto and will send out for U/A and culture. Also did a full blood panel. Her last one was in Dec. So, we'll see in a few days if there are any indications there.

She also said the bump on her tail is a growth not a cyst...probably a wart like you said. She doesn't feel it's malignant at all. Because of where it is and the fact that it is flush with the skin, she said she can't use a local anesthetic to remove it. She recommends just watching it. If it doesn't change or ulcerate, she'd leave it alone.

I know Ali will be high tonight with all the activity toward the end of her curve. Hopefully the increase in insulin will settle in over the next couple days. I'll let you know what I hear back.

Thanks!
Patty

Oh, the other vet I see that makes housecalls recommended the mangos. She said she usually sees them year round here in the grocery store. Go figure! Hope she's right come winter in NY! (They're also supposed to be kidney friendly - low in phosphorus compaired to other fruit options)

[Patty]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

Oh...since the vet was drawing blood to send out. I tested Ali with my meter for another comparison (won't have the results back until tomorrow as they were sending out though).

She commented she'd not seen an owner test their dog before and wanted to watch me do it. She said most of her clients aren't willing to test their dogs. I told her about the Abbott presentation held out in CA, and that they were encouraging the vets to teach their clients.

Hopefully, the fact that Ali was so easy was an encouragement if she has a willing client in the future.

[eyelostit]

Re: Update on Patty's Ali

I hope Ali's bg levels out, I know what you mean with the highs at times, Niki keeps me on my toes, she did fine on 9.5 units for so long, now we're doing 10.5 sometimes 11, she has been a bit off past 2 weeks, is it spring and hormones ?

Its been a month or two of pets with lumps hasn't it. That growth or lump is it the same color of the skin or a bit whiteish? My chief had about 3-4 of these when Cushing set in, it was called canine calcuctious? sorry can't spell. You no doubt know what I am talking about. If not let me know or Nat or Kath will know what I am talking about.