Newly diagnosed and struggling

[amydunn19]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

Does she have any of those skin tags anywhere? They give good blood and are harmless. I tested Maggie at the base of her tail to the side. The skin is thicker there so you will need a bigger lancet. But it never bothered her. You could give your dog a kong or toy with chicken or turkey baby food in it and they are pretty agreeable with anything at that point. You also can use chicken or turkey baby food on food. I used beech nut brand - it doesn't have onion powder. Some organic brands don't as well. Just a thought.

The ear is the hardest place in my opinion.

[KathyLindly]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

Mastering the technique to obtain blood and using the meter and test strips can be a challenge. I have been testing Mollie since 4/9 and have just recently been 100% reliable with one poke and one test strip, I test from her ear and she doesn't like it, but she doesn't fight it either. It is a challenge but don't give up, you can do it with practice and the health of your precious pup depends on it. Be prepared to have additional test strips on hand, I started the first 12 hour curve and ran out of strips before the last two tests. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime had additional strips in two days but had to start the test from the beginning.

[Lchow022]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

If you are testing on the ear I suggest you shave off a tiny area on the corner around the ear where there is a nice purple vein that you can see. Don't just jab at her ears randomly especially if her ears are small. It actually took me a good 10 months to finally find out how to do it properly with my dog..

We went from trying to poke him on the ear to trying to take out blood from his legs and that hurt him so bad. My vet found a nice big purple vein on the corner of his ear and shaved off a bit of fur. Now I just take the little needle from my alpha trak 2 and poke him once there and a big drop of blood comes out.

[CraigM]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

If it's sunny / warm where you are, you might allow the pup to sunbathe for a few minutes before testing. I remember years ago when I first tested Annie on a 90 degree day after she had been laying out in the yard for a little while. She bled so much that I started to panic!. It took some direct pressure with a tissue to stop the flow.

I think the ears are one of the main places where dogs regulate their body temperature. When warm, they increase the blood flow through the ear flaps to cool off. I think.

Craig

[Judi]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

I struggled getting blood for the longest time. Along with Craig's suggestion of having her lie in the sun, some people get those little rice bags and heat them up in the microwave to put next to the dog's skin where you are going to poke for blood.

One person put a flashlight against their dog's ear so they could see where the veins were.

The lip near the canine tooth was the only place that worked for us.

hang in there, it isn't always easy!

[Raysaint]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

I just rub my hands together and hold his ear between my hands for half a minute. The big vein along the one side of the ear works best.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

I use a warm washcloth on Daisy's ear. She bled so much tonight I had to put a little pressure on it to stop. It's been so hot down here I may not have to use the warm washcloth anymore, I can just let her outside in the yard for a few minutes then use the clicker. But we were at 179 tonight.

[Gomeysmom]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

I too am newly diagnosed (4/26/17), not regulated, and have a fussy eater. I have always fed my dogs chicken thighs, and chicken livers, mixed with a marketed brand of dry food. We tried royal Canin after the diagnosis and that was a flop..vet will credit my account. I went to the local feed store and bought blue buffalo Chicken dry food and so far it is getting eaten. The good thing about a local feed store is they will most likely take the food back if your dog won't eat it. These nice grain free foods seem to only come in large bags so it is nice to know you maybe can get your money back! Gomey is eating Blue Buffalo chicken dry food (handful) with my meat stew that I make up. Today I made a spaghetti sized pot full of my version of Rubies Stewbie. If you look the true recipe up I would think you would need a lobster pot to make that much! I instead bought (6) Chicken thighs and boiled them. Put them in a separate bowl, then I boiled the dried bean portion (handful) Blackeyed peas, lentils, and green split peas) for 3 minutes in 2 quarts of water. Then I added a container of Chicken livers and 1/2 package of spinach and brought to a boil for 6 minutes. Then I added the Chicken thighs back in which filled the pot and I left that sit (no heat) for an hour. The beans and everything seemed good and Gomey ATE!!! Maybe the Spinach will curve some of the grass eating for your dog? The actual recipe calls for carrots, green beans, and pumpkin but my guys are on the fence about pumpkin so I left it out. they typically enjoy carrots but I don't know about green beans..they have never had them. Tomorrow I will scoop the ingredients out into baggies in perfectly portioned amounts and freeze; then reheat for each feeding. This is a quick process and makes at least 10 days of food for us. (I have (2) dogs eating this. I also bought a dehydrator from Walmart for $35 and make dehydrated Chicken, beef Liver, and sweet potato. I have found that if I put the meat in dehydrator at 8pm it is ready in the morning. These treats are great after an insulin shot as I can give a tiny piece and she is grateful. Hopefully this recipe works for us, and maybe you?? Patience! Everyone on this site has been so helpful. Just ask and someone offers!!

[Raysaint]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

Gomeysmom, you should be commended for the effort you go to to ensure your dogs eat and eat healthy. It's amazing the things we do for our pets, and hopefully we are rewarded. They deserve everything we do, it's up to us to give them the best life we can.
I know many other people also go the extra mile, and we should all feel good about ourselves.
Cheers.

[Mystii]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

Some great info here! I got the dehydrator and I'll definitely try the liver and sweet potato. Indy is eating perhaps half of her food (approx 1/2 cup), both morning and evening. She's not acting hungry and she is eating well now but she's just not chomping all of it down. She never has done that.

As for the blood tests, I've tried various ways but hadn't thought of looking for the vein with a flashlight. I'm thinking I'll go back into the vet and get some instruction from them. I don't know anyone around here that has a diabetic dog. Her ears aren't tiny, but obviously there are better places to stick her than where I've tried. I'd like to be successful at it before I try to do a glucose curve.

What kind of treats can a diabetic dog have? She's not had many since this started and she's VERY treat oriented. It's how I paper trained her and she still expects a reward for being good, when she's in the house. I tried giving her a piece of the diabetic dog food and that worked for one. She's flat out ignoring it now. It could sit on the floor, rotting and she wouldn't care. I do not want to go back to the bad treats she was getting, but I'd like something she will see at as a treat.

Will small bits of dehrydated beef liver, chicken breast or sweet potato work as a reward treat?

[Raysaint]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

Liver and sweet potato are good choices. Liver has virtually no carbs and almost no fat. Sweet potato has virtually no fat but has carbs, 27 grams in a cup of raw, 41 grams in a cup of baked, but usually you're giving small pieces, so there should be very little carb effect on blood sugar.

[Gomeysmom]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

Gomey won't even touch a piece of good steak but loves dehydrated liver and chicken ...we actually call it crack. They would love me to get some more venison or duck as well...they will do just about anything for it. Even though Gomey doesn't like the thought of being "pricked" the smell of the reward makes the process seamless! I have seen other people say that their dog looks forward to the testing just to receive the reward! and the smallest piece does the trick...

[amydunn19]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

I found liver to be tricky with Maggie's blood sugar and her pancreatitis. Some liver is pretty fatty and a richer meat. I have found some lower fat beef liver treats that were pretty diluted with something like barley added. I don't know if it was just her but her blood sugar would go off the charts if I tried pure liver. You really have to test - some dogs may be fine.

I used boiled chicken, chicken or turkey baby food, dried sweet potatoes, frozen yogurt for dogs(not frosty paws brand but yoghund), I did buy plain yogurt at the store and added smashed blueberries, and I found some small biscuit treats that worked well. Some used frozen green beans but Maggie would never eat them.

Ear testing is something I never attempted. Maggie had skin tags which are great because they bleed well and have no nerve endings to speak of.

[jesse girl]

Re: Newly diagnosed and struggling

amys thoughts on these type of proteins and fat maybe difficult for a diabetic compromised digestive system . jesse is on a partially raw diet . and i ended up reducing her primary raw ingredient of beef heart from a cup to 1/3 of a cup . i replaced it with more vegetable matter . everything for jesse is grind down in a processor i mix the vegetables in the meat so the enzymes in that meat began the process of breaking down the cellulose in the vegetables for easing digestion

i watch jesse stools like a hawk and that gives me an idea how things are being digested . thats usually the first sign of a problem

i have no idea if this was the best approach as this may have been uncharted territory but what i found out about k9 diabetes is it is kind of uncharted and undiscovered so trying something different maybe prudent at least for jesse it was because the normal program wast working and time was running out for her

i would have not experimented much if at all if i did not test her sugar