Peeing Problems

[CraigM]

Re: does anyone know if pepto bismol affects bg?

Hi vet put baxter on pepto bismol today. Afraid to give
Cuz he had low reading (79) saturday 6 pm I would think she woul dnt presribe
If it did she knows he diabetic. Any thoughts?? Experience with pepto?

Why is Bax on Pepto Bismol?
This link indicates large dosage may give a FALSE urine sugar reading. (I would suppose also a false BG reading?)
http://www.chacha.com/question/can-a...e-pepto-bismol

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

Have you changes his food in the past week? Sometimes (frequently) a change of food will upset their tummy and give loose stools.

Annie had soft stools several weeks ago, hard to pick-up. Think it lasted a week, but she is back to very nice poop!

Craig

[Cockapoo Mom]

home testing making me more neurotic n worried help!

Hi to everyone. So we didn't home test for 7 months bad I know, but finally got courage to do it after some wild vet curve numbers plus his uti plus my ongoing back issues left me dealing with pain. Anyway those
Who home test how often do u do it? I'm a teacher n schedule crazy in morning a petsitter does his walk feed n shot in morning I can't add home testing to that!! i also dont want to keep changing dose daily i rely on vet. Please add ur thoughts thx. Its like if he gets a bad starr number i will b afraid to go to work. What is too low for fasting number or too high?, I m now in a constant state of worry and can't b home 24/7 to test him. Please help..thx.

[stylynjm]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

Hi,I'm sure you'll get more feedback,but I ALWAYS test before morning food and insulin,and before evening food and insulin.that way u know what numbers ur at when u give insulin.Sissy is on a little different routine,but if she looks different or has been to vet I will test her to see if she is headed up or down.I also often test her at bedtime if she was low at dinner time. hope this helps
To low is more dangerous than high...it depends how ur pup runs,but 100 puts me on notice for a low!!!

[jesse girl]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

testing overtime gives you baxters trends and patterns once that is developed you will have allot less worry leaving him

what you like yo see is consistent fasting numbers that his body does well with that maybe 200 and he may normally drop 75 points during the day or maybe he had a trend at fasting where he is lower but he may normally rise for a bit

these are the things that tells you yes i can give a regular dose and go to work

its almost impossible to tell what number might be problematic before shot without knowing trends

[amydunn19]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

I think you can definitely add home testing to your schedule if you want to. I have taught everyone associated with my dog to test her because I take her to work but I have to leave her there a lot for meetings, etc. and my employees fight over who is gonna test her. You could teach your sitter to test.

Just because you start testing doesn't mean you change his dose whenever you want. Constantly changing insulin based on a reading is a bad idea - insulin should stay consistent as much as possible. But..When you take your dog to the vet, wouldn't it give the vet much more information if you had a week's worth of testing to base his/her decisions on insulin dosage? I test three times a day and sometimes more often if she has had lows. I test before food/shot and middle of the day. If you could test before meals that would be enough. On the weekend, you could do a curve yourself. I really only adjust Maggies dose is she is really low - ex. If she was 50 at her dinner time, I would wait an hour, test her again, and then make a decision about her dose. If I gave her the regular dose, see the danger in that? Keep in mind, this is something my vet and I have worked on and he has told me to make these adjustments as needed. I would have never just started adjusting without lots of encouragement from the vet plus he is confident that I understand what I am doing.

I think if you would start testing, it would eliminate the anxiety that you have about how he is doing when you are not around. Not wanting to know the number because it might be bad is kind of like sticking your head in the sand- the number is still the same whether you know what it is or not. I bet your pet sitter would be willing to learn how to test Baxter as well.

[Cockapoo Mom]

crazy numbers help please

Ok forgot to do fasting number today!@# but here's what I have
8:28 am ate 3/4 meal 8:48 am got 8 units
Tested 1 hour after insulin he 185. Gave alpo snap after test
Tested 45 minutes later he 67?? Gave iams biscuit called vet vet said
Test in an hour what's going on here? Maybe 8 units too much dose decrease
Soo confused testing making ne not want to leave house.
What are too low fasting numbers and 2 hr post insulin
Numbers??? Frustrated n confused please chime in what u think
Going on?? Thx jen

[CraigM]

Re: crazy numbers help please

Ok forgot to do fasting number today!@# but here's what I have
8:28 am ate 3/4 meal 8:48 am got 8 units
Tested 1 hour after insulin he 185. Gave alpo snap after test
Tested 45 minutes later he 67?? Gave iams biscuit called vet vet said
Test in an hour what's going on here? Maybe 8 units too much dose decrease
Soo confused testing making ne not want to leave house.
What are too low fasting numbers and 2 hr post insulin
Numbers??? Frustrated n confused please chime in what u think
Going on?? Thx jen

Usually when we see a low reading, we would reduce the dosage. This is harder with Bax since he isn't eating full meals. I think you said he ate 3/4 of his breakfast, but that was just your eyeball guesstimate, right? I swear that just 10-12 pieces of dry kibble makes a difference in Annie (every dog is different). Food consistency can be very important. Same food, same amount. Might consider a food scale.

As I mentioned in the message I sent directly to you, you might smear a little honey on his biscuit. Really had to know how much

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: crazy numbers help please

What are too low fasting numbers and 2 hr post insulin
Numbers??? Frustrated n confused please chime in what u think
Going on?? Thx jen

This is probably a "every dog is different" sort of thing. If Annie's pre-meal reading is below 90ish I might add a "dap" of honey to either her kibble, or to a biscuit. We need to know what the pup "normally" does after a meal. Does his BG usually climb, or fall, soon after the meal / injection?

There is probably no "correct" number for two hours after a meal - Yep, "every dog is different". For years Annie would rise by 100 or so points after a meal, other pups seem to drop. Many factors in play, I would think the type of food, and how fast it gets digested are the biggies. My goal is to keep Annie in the 100-225 range as much as possible - doesn't always stay there.

I believe the small amount of fiber I've been adding to Annie's meals has greatly flattened her curve.

Craig

[jesse girl]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

if baxter only ate 3/4 of his food you should reduce the dose and develop some protocols for this

we have an understanding that half of insulin goes to food the other half goes to the body this is a very generalized statement but just putting it in some perspective

with one quarter of the food not consumed you could reduce the dose by a quarter which would be 2 units if you take into account the 50 percent food and body requirements issue that may take it to a one unit reduction

for me if i was not sure and going to work i would reduce by 2 units with that reduction in food consumed if i was home and could monitor i might try that one unit reduction

we also have an understanding that you can give a quarter of the dose with no food consumed

if getting him to eat is a problem you may want to divide his food in half at mealtime after he finishes that first half you can give him the other half or split that part in half that may give you what craig talks about with consistency with amount of food consumed with how much insulin you want to give

when i leave the house i want to be comfortable that jesse will not drop to low i also have an automatic dog feeder that gives her a mid morning snack she has not had a hypo event in the 3 years of being diabetic she would have if i did not home test and made the adjustments to keep her safe

dogs can do just fine with regulation from 150 to 250 or a bit higher to give some perspective

[Cockapoo Mom]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

Hi Jesse girl i did reduce the dose he usually gets 10 so vet said give 8
do you know if any pups drop an hour after food? We are still tweaking his does, I just worry when i have to leave house..where do I get the treat feeder? i only found dog food feeders..don't know if they hold milkbone?
thanks for your insight...Jen

[jesse girl]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

i am not good at pasting websites and stuff

the one i use is the pet safe dog feeder its a double feeder with raised lids

i have bought them off of ebay and they got quite a few for a good price at this time just type in pet safe dog feeder on ebay and you will see them

they use a AA battery and have a mechanical operation no electronics so simple operation

the adjustment on timing is not that great with 1 hour increments which is a bit difficult to figure 2 hours is the way its set up but we got the hang of it and works well for jesse and it doesn't have to be that exact for jesse

we put some plastic cat bells on the lid drilled a small hole in the lid towards the front so the weight of the bells would not holed the lid down and it is sensitive to weight there is and elastic string interconnecting 3 bells and attached through the small hole we drilled

so when the lid raises up the bells jingle and jesse comes a running very funny to watch she can here it at any point in the house and expects it that internal clock that dogs have .

she gets he milk bone smeared in honey i even at one point used both feeders to raise at different times with 2 snacks but only one snack is needed at this time but its nice to have two any questions just give a holler

[Abby's Mom]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

Hi Jen,

Just popping in to answer your question regarding if there were any dogs that would drop after 1 hour, after food.

Abby did for me, and found that cooked millet (for 12 mins) worked for us, but there are alot of other fast acting carbs that you can choose. If you are interested, there is a website that lists glycemic values, and even thought I am sure that has not been proven, it did give us some insight as to some other carbs to try within the same glycemic value.

The key to our success, (and everyone has theirs) is finding a carb that stopped the drop, and then then numbers leveled out. Once they did, it was an easy decision to raise or lower the insulin. When the curve is a deep one, and you are getting erractic high and low numbers, you just do not know which direction to go.

Barb

[Cockapoo Mom]

pet food recall help with new food please

Hi went to buy baxs food innova prime grain free beef n lamb its been recalled as is most of dog food they make my bag not affected but only have 5 days worth left need suggestions for dry kibble his meal is 1/3 can blue buff chicken grill wet plus 1/3 cup innova he is so picky n vet suggest ed wellness core grain free beef lamb cant find it tried 6 pet stores. Anyone know of what else I coukd use can't find natures variety insight beef n lamb either pleaee help!

[Patty]

Re: Baxter needs your insight

Might try someplace like Smartpak that could mail it if you could get the order in quick http://www.smartpakequine.com/wellne...x?cm_vc=Search