New to this forum

[Annemieke]

Re: New to this forum

Thanks Jesse, I'll try your suggestions about the lip. I would want you all to look at Bart's diet and tell your thoughts about that. You have so much experience. The vet is not very helpfull. All do to her training I think. She just does what the vetbook says. And that says dry diabetic food.



We buy sausages called Raw4dogs. (www.raw4dogs.nl) There are about 6 or 7 flavours. This is the chicken.


Kip (88%) (chicken)
- bevleesde kippenrug, kippenmaag, kippenhart -
Groentemix (10%) (mix of vegetables)
- bloemkool, wortel, spinazie - (cauliflower – carrot – spinach)
Zeewier (1%)
Zalmolie (1%)
Vitaminen en mineralen mix, cranberry (0,01%)

166 ME (kcal/100g)


Eiwit 14 % (protein)
Vetgehalte 12% (fat)
Ruwe celstof 0.8%
Ruwe as 2.8%
Calcium 0.7 %
Fosfor 0.4 %
Vocht 70 % (moisture)

[jesse girl]

Re: New to this forum

The diet looks healthy . Maybe lacking some carbs but if blood sugar and stools are good then you should be ok . Jesse started on a raw diet that wasn't balanced and her stools displayed that . We got to a better place adding things like vegetables and pintos beans . Her only carb is sweet potatoes yams but vegetables do have some carbs .I slowly started to cook all her food as she got older which did not change anything physically . She always is excited for her meal which to me is the most important thing .

You seem you and your pup are off to a good start

[Raysaint]

Re: New to this forum

Maybe check out the Softclix lancing device. It's probably the least painful. And after you lance, hold the device on the spot for a couple seconds, it acts a bit like a vacuum, to help draw the blood out.
I lance on the big vein on the inside outer edge of the ear.

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: New to this forum

i didnt use the lancet device just the lancet. i put Riles between my legs lifted up the lip did a short jab on the inner lip. no problem getting a large droplet.

the dietlooks great.
whats important is to feed according to the manufacturers feedguide.
it goes by weight.
Riles weight 20 lbs got fed 1/2 cupdry food twice a day.

your doing great
mo

[Annemieke]

Re: New to this forum

Picking the ear does not work good, because he has brown hair, tried knipping a bit but no vein to see. I think on white dogs its easier? Did anyone use the sensors from Abott? How do you feel about them?

[Annemieke]

Re: New to this forum

This is Bart with a sensor. It helped as great when we put this on him, to understand what food did to BG's and exercise and the curve overnight. I have to say, it was also a bit stressy for us when you see on the sensor that he is high and you can't do anything to help him.

[Annemieke]

Re: New to this forum

sorry, tried to upload other picture, but failed.

[jesse girl]

Re: New to this forum

what you are looking to do is a curve which is a test every 2 hours for 12 hours. Now since you have this self testing device every hour maybe better some people do a 24 hour curve

once you complete the curve you can post the numbers and include shot and mealtime and any exercise and when that occurred

Never used the system you are using but it seems to work well .

[Raysaint]

Re: New to this forum

Remember, in diabetes, there will be times when sugar is high, and low, and everything in between. It will be a range over a 12 hour period. Especially when using this type of insulin. It matters more how high it gets and when.

In human diabetes, the only way to try and avoid all high sugar is with a glucose monitoring device that injects fast insulin when needed.
Dogs can handle high sugar better than humans over the long term generally.

[MisterAlan]

Re: New to this forum

Yeah you are right about the diet part where vets don't know much about it besides "buy this dry dog food". If your pet cant eat said dry food and the vet really doesn't have an answer, it is scary for a diabetic pet owner that is pretty much blind to the situation also.


For my BG testing on Cloud i usually use his front leg callus that he has on the joint areas where he lays down on a lot and just massage it a bit to get some blood flow and prick him with the highest level penetration setting. Since its a callus it seems he doesn't feel anything and hes gotten use to laying down for about a minute to get this done for now. Since hes a 70 pound dog and he has gotten use of his hind legs again hes more squirmy lately just because he can be lol.


Totally understand your stress when you see high numbers. I had this problem for a month and i blew threw boxes of test strips because every 2 hours i hoped it would look good. Thank fully my dog has regulated now and im actually having to reduce some insulin since his body is getting use to the diet and insulin. Things will look better once you get the hang of tweaking things on the fly. Hang in there yall will make it through and life will go back to a norm.

[Annemieke]

Re: New to this forum

His numbers are good now, but they were high in the beginning on the dry food. He was losing weight and I also lost weight due to stress. Now on the raw meat he is doing fine. He doesn't have the callus you are talking about. I think they occurs with heavier dogs. Or he is spoiled laying on soft undergrounds. I understand you taking bloedsamples every two hours. Fine that your dog is going well now.

[Raysaint]

Re: New to this forum

Just bear in mind raw diets can be high in fat. Fat can be potentially dangerous for things like pancreatitis.

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: New to this forum

glad you found food for your dog that he likes and works for regulation

it can be very challenging finding what food works .

your doing great
Mo

[Annemieke]

Re: New to this forum

I like to know how you are handling the following: I understand you measure the amounts of units of insulin by the nadir. I give him 6.5 units, then Bart has a nadir of 104 (5.8). But if I catch the nadir with some carbohydrates, than the nadir flattens. The blood glucose stays more stable. The nadir is than 217 (12.1). He is hours on that level. Is the better way to give some carbo's to catch the nadir and than give more insulin? Or don't give the carbo's and get the lower nadir?

[Raysaint]

Re: New to this forum

5.8 is a good nadir. You would only need carbs if nadir was lower than that, and the rest of the 12 hours his numbers were good.

Meaning, if most of the 12 hours he was below 15, but his nadir was too low, he might need a small carb before nadir.

We want stable sugars, but not higher stable necessarily. Stable usually means a good range of blood sugar, without big highs or lows.