Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

has Bear been spayed or had pups lately?

[Zoology1603]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

6:01pm :: 442 (Fasting)
6:05pm :: Meal
6:11pm :: 9 Units

[Zoology1603]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

has Bear been spayed or had pups lately

Never had puppies or spayed. She had finished her heat cycle sometime in August before I noticed she was not behaving normally.

She's wishing she had more to eat. I wonder if 60 or 70 grams of dry instead of 50 would cause any negative effects. The dry food is supposed to have 5% fiber which is the most I have seen.

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

heres information on unspayed diabetic dogs
i.d suggest having her spayed and speak to your get tomorrow.

Intact females go into heat typically two times per year, small dogs can go into heat three times per year and large dogs can go into heat every 12 months. During that time their body produces a hormone called progesterone. This hormone is produced during pregnancy and after a heat cycle, in a phase called diestrus

Progesterone causes insulin resistance, so even if your dog is not diabetic she can be insulin resistant and have higher blood glucose levels during this time. The problem with an unspayed diabetic dog is that insulin resistance causes elevated blood glucose levels, which in turn can cause toxins called ketones.

Ketones are a type of acid that the liver produces from fat when there is not enough insulin to properly use glucose. Ketones build up in the bloodstream and are toxic, causing diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA in diabetic dogs is an extremely serious, painful, and possibly fatal illness, not to mention the expense it costs to treat DKA.

Once the dog is out of diestrus, insulin requirements can drastically change due to progesterone levels dropping back to normal. If constant monitoring of blood glucose levels is not performed, BG can drop to dangerously low levels, causing hypoglycemia; and as you may or may not know, hypoglycemia can kill.

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

please make a new thread for posting, were having to go back re read please

try using a food calculators online . i.m not good at calculating food.

heres what i found as an example but its not accurate.
a 35 lb dog eats 2 cups of dry a day.
224 grams in a cup. divide by 2 is 112 grams
thats dry food shes getting what 50? and 78 wet.

just examples

hills says wd for 30lbs is 245 grams divide by 2 is 123 grams dry, 30lbs wd wet 4 cans day x 354 grams divide twice day divide by half is 354 grams in cups its 1.75

how many calories a day does a 35 heeler require? 993 to 2020 cal?? food calculator says 1120.
different recipes have different calories average 450 to 550 calories a cup

i cant suggest raising the insulin until the food gets sorted out and she.ll need more testing at certain times to stay safe catch any hypos low bg.

its better to do a curve in 7 days and let her body take everything in and settle

[Zoology1603]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

9/20 (Morning)


8:00am :: 549
8:07am :: Meal
8:12am :: 9 Units


I haven't found an advanced calculator that combines 2 foods, wet and dry.
Example: https://www.merrickpetcare.com/dog-a...od-calculator/
This one gives the results I want but it's only for a specific type of food. I'll download the javascript that runs the calculator, reverse engineer it and create my own calculator that I can plug in the types of foods I have and am using.


Plus, what is her activity level now? She used to be super active. But can she ever be that way again? I keep her inside now when she used to go outside with me all day. At 9, healers have an average lifespan of 10-13 years, so she would be a senior now.


Also you would think there would be a calculator that would let you select diabetic or other health condition but no such one exists. I'll look at the math later and see what I can come up with.

[jesse girl]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

An female not spayed is more than likely difficult to regulate. My Jesse went into heat and that's when she got sick . I believe she developed maybe a temporary condition of diabeties which developed in pancreatitis and became permanent

Many examples of intact females on the forum becoming diabetic and surprising some went into remission after getting spayed . Now that was rare but most improved regulation and sensitivity to injected insulin .

I understand you probably can't do the surgery now with the medical issues and costs . My Jesse had hers done out of necessity as with DKA , pancreatitis and diabeties she had emergency surgery for a uterus infection . All those things by themselves are life threatening but all together it mind boggling looking back and she survived and 11 years after that to 16.5

You need to slow things down a bit to make the right decisions . You know what's best for your pup . Your intelligent and methodical with your process . As I said vets don't spend enough physical time and rely mostly on blood and urine to make a diagnosis and thats not guaranteed to be correct

[jesse girl]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

Just to add I bought nph insulin for $25 and syringes $12 from Walmart with no perception . I don't know if that's available to you in your area but wanted to let you know . I was able to get consistent performance from nph insulin for 2 months or more of use with no degrading in regulation . I did refrigerate it . If using vetsulin the change is fairly simple but I can understand waiting to change but something to consider if costs is a factor . I believe Walmart saved me $10,000 over Jesse's diabetic life with there insulin program

Another factor is I got a discount meter (prodigy code ) on ebay and could find strips in quantity for as low as $5 for 50 . I think at one time I bought 500 at one time . Did not worry if I run out of strips . I compared the meter with other human meters and they registered all about the same . I used this meter for most of her diabetic life and took the numbers as is . Now out of all those eBay test strips purchases I had one bad batch that I was refunded . Some could be close to expectation dates but had no problem with strips that passed the date

Remember don't look at the individual numbers so much . They don't tell you much . The patterns is what you are looking for and important . Testing is only important if it tells you something . You would like to do a curve once a week and at minimum a test before every insulin injection because once given you can't take it back .

Diabeties can be managed on any type of budget . I was on the very lowest with high success . I also did homemade and figured how to feed quality fresh food for a lower cost than premium dog foods

[Zoology1603]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

-Vet Visit-

An female not spayed is more than likely difficult to regulate. My Jesse went into heat and that's when she got sick . I believe she developed maybe a temporary condition of diabeties which developed in pancreatitis and became permanent

Yeah, I intended to ask about it at the vet but it's the one thing that slipped my mind. I realized once I got home and looked at the LDDS test results and noticed it said she was spayed, which is of course incorrect. I knew I would forget something.

Another factor is I got a discount meter (prodigy code ) on ebay and could find strips in quantity for as low as $5 for 50 . I think at one time I bought 500 at one time . Did not worry if I run out of strips . I compared the meter with other human meters and they registered all about the same . I used this meter for most of her diabetic life and took the numbers as is . Now out of all those eBay test strips purchases I had one bad batch that I was refunded . Some could be close to expectation dates but had no problem with strips that passed the date

I have read on the forum here that I should have 2 meters, 1 good one, which I already have and a cheap one. Test with the cheap one for the most part and use the good one for emergency diagnostics. I have a TrueMetrix, OneTouch UltraMini and an OneTouch Ultra 2 but the strips for those are higher than the AlphaTrak 2. I'll look into the Prodigy Auto Code, thank you.

I also did homemade and figured how to feed quality fresh food for a lower cost than premium dog foods

I cooked a recipe from balanceit back before she got sick. She refused to eat it when she was sick so I fed it to our other dogs. I'm not opposed to cooking. We are a farm with beef cows, chickens, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables so it's not out of the question. Riliey may yell at me if I decide to go that route as I have read home cooking should be avoided as it isn't consistent and fluctuates every time you cook a new meal. Where did you find your diabetic recipes?


labblab this part's for you...
Test: Cortisol (preldds) Results: 323 HI Reference Range: 58 - 144 Units: nmol/L
Test: Cortisol (4hr LDDS) Results: 263 HI Reference Range: blank Units: nmol/L
Test: Cortisol (8hr LDDS) Results: 181 HI Reference Range: 0.0 - 42.0 Units: nmol/L
The results said she is spayed, she is not. The results said she is 6 years old, she is 9. So I don't know if that effects the results in any way. Is this the full test results?
The Trilostane is compounded. 40mg, 1 chew once a day.
The vet tech was the go between as the doctor was busy. They wanted to confirm my 9 units wasn't a typo. Once I explained it they said it was OK. I was given an email address to send my future blood tests to.

[Zoology1603]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

6 hours after insulin, 9/20


2:09pm :: 508

[jesse girl]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

Yeah the home cooking is a bit of a myth that it can't be balanced and consistent . I have not heard of a dog living as long as Jesse with diabeties and that's what she ate being diabetic My opinion what type of food to feed can have endless opinions about what works for dogs

A homemade diet seem to work for my Jesse
Now would a commercial diet do the same ? maybe .

Either way for me she enjoyed her dinner day in and day out for her entire diabetic life . Another important aspect . If it's a struggle to eat that is not productive. One other thing on homemade .you never have to worry if it's available or the manufacture changing ingredients . You have the control . Now many dogs do great on a commercial diet .

[Zoology1603]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

Calculating food portions is hard. You have to go by numbers that you are given. There's no guarantee it's right.

It's just ask much of a guess when using fresh foods as well.


I have a calculator now so I can determine how much wet or dry I want to use for a 792kcal/day diet. I don't know how much kcal to go by now given she's not as active but 792 is for a senior dog of normal activity with a desired weight of 38lbs.

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

lots of people cook for their dogs. low fat diet.
they use online calculators and walmart weigh tool. measure up all the ingredients separetly weighing out daily calories. how many calories for a 38 lb healer?

is it easier to buy senior dog food. is this adult food too rich for her?

you need to tell your vet shes 9 and not spayed. being intact, theres a rocky up and down swing in blood sugar.ahead for her..it can be mind blogging. i cant say she,ll have a regulation 250 bg for most of the day

being spade she can possible get into the 200 to 300 and has a better chance of healthier golden years.

lets see what lablab has to say about the lab results. so glad Bears in doors and feeling better

[Zoology1603]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

78 grams of dry if mixing with half a can of hills a/d per meal.

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Diabetic Australian Cattle Dog

i.m getting 224 grams in 1 cup
1/2 cup is 112 grams dry

a 13 oz tin of hills wet zd not ad is 370 grams 1/2 tin zd is 185 grams

that would be 112 grams dry plus 185 zd grams approx wet twice a day. i.m not 100% positive, never calculated .
were different amounts.


heres a neat calculator

https://www.dognutrition.com/dog-food-calculator/