New member Snow

[Snow & Sharon]

Hello I am Snow

I am a 9-year-old Westie and on Monday I was diagnosed with diabetes.

I am on Cannisulan 2iu x twice a day.

I live in Victoria Australia.

I weigh 9.7 kilos

My mum is very anxious in giving injections, she has never done it before and last night pricked her own thumb. I am forgiving her as it was only her 3rd time. Luckily she did not inject the insulin into herself.

She is also worried about when and what to feed me as I am very hungry and stand next to her and cry when I want to eat. I do this outside the two meal times of 7am and 7pm. Mum doesn't know what snacks she can give me now.

Any suggestions for her would be appreciated.

[jesse girl]

Re: New member Snow

Hi and welcome to snow and Sharon

Its a bit of a process at the beginning we all go through it and almost all dogs and caretakers get to a better place and return to a happy dogs life with some limitations

My jesse had the similar symptoms of a ravenous appetite . Not sure what cause that for some dogs . Maybe the high sugar is involved as once my jesse's sugar came down her appetite was not as extreme but never returned to her ladylike appetite of a slow free feeder before diabetes

You have to stay consistent until the dog is regulated which can take a few months on average . Speeding up that process maybe helped by testing blood sugar at home . I have used a human tester for my jesse's 10 year diabetic adventure . Some may say they are not accurate for dogs but it seemed to work for her for a decade . It doesnt need to be perfect to have success

You may want to hold off snacks and extra food till regulated because it wont help or satisfy hunger

I was the same with no medical knowledge or understanding what to do but you learn and fairly quickly because we want to get our pups to a better place and most of us do

I became the foremost expert on my jesse's diabetes . No vet or anyone else understands the disease in her better than me because I put the time into figuring things out to help make jesse life as normal as I can and you can do the same . It just takes want and desire to get the job done .

[Judi]

Re: New member Snow

Hi: I'm so sorry Snow has diabetes. It can be a lot to take in. My Jenny died a few years ago but we kept her going for 3 1/2 years after her diagnosis. If my husband and I can get comfortable giving the shots anyone can. I know the needles for
Caninsulin are different than the needles we used but we were able to shop around and find some needles that were a little more comfortable for her. We also bought some duck jerky and gave her a little piece after her shot. It was a special treat for doing it.

Jenny was starving right away too. She also had cushings which didn't help matters. Jessegirl is right, if you can be firm and stick to the 2 times a day feeding Snow will regulate faster. I think I gave Jenny some frozen green beans once in awhile because she was so miserable.

We weren't the best diabetic dog parents but we went with trying to keep her happy and not striving for perfection. It worked for us.

Hang in there! you can do this. Judi

[Annemieke]

Re: New member Snow

Hello Snow and mom,
I replay from the Netherlands. You know in australia there is a clinic aspecially foor diabetic pets? I would like to have such here. Because our vet did not know much about diabetics. There is no vet specialised here. https://www.animaldiabetesaustralia.com.au
I know its very scary in the beginning,but your mom is going to be good in giving injections, you can count on that.

Greetings of Holland

[YukiesMom]

Re: New member Snow

Yukon had both Cushing's and Diabetes and in the beginning he was extremely hungry.

I fed him boiled chicken occasionally as a snack, but he loved "frozen" green beans. I bought the fresh beans and I would cut them about 1 inch long and microwave them for about 15 seconds to soften up just a tad.

Then I would put them in the freezer. He absolutely loved them. Try it.

[Snow & Sharon]

Re: New member Snow

Thank you for your responses. Things have not been going too well. I am getting better at giving the injections however when we went for our first curve test Snow's level was still at 28 on arrival at 9 am and 29 at 12 pm. The vet gave him an additional dose of insulin before I took him home.

Insulin has been increased to 3iu x twice a day. With another check happening today, 1-week interval.

Sadly Snow lost his eyesight overnight on the weekend. I was not made aware this could happen overnight and feel very sad...

I have done some research and learnt about Kinostat although I could not determine if it is available yet or still in trial. Will raise with my vet today. I know surgery is the only option available now once his sugar is regulated. Fingers crossed for a better result today.

Can anyone give me an indication of how long it takes to get the sugars to come down to normal levels?

[jesse girl]

Re: New member Snow

It can take a few months to up to a year depending on how regulation is handled and if there are other challenges that could have an impact . Usually home testing can expedite the process . Yeah the only way to reverse the cataracts is to have them surgically removed and I think success rates are about 75% which takes some do diligence on eye drops and following all procedures .

[Raysaint]

Re: New member Snow

As others mentioned, this is a process, taking months to over a year. The main thing is to stay consistent, and be patient.

For me, being diabetic myself, I tried to manage my dog like me, getting too focused on numbers, and making little changes all the time to correct things. Didn't work, just delayed his regulation.

Stick with 2 meals, 2 doses of insulin just after the meal, and do a curve every week. As sugars slowly start to come down, her hunger will start to decrease.

Also, meal food should be moderate in protein and fibre, and lower in fat.

Her starting insulin dose is still a bit low, it usually is 0.5 units per kilogram of weight.

Patience, patience.