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Old 06-15-2013, 10:53 PM
 
Location: McKinleyville, California
6,414 posts, read 10,456,621 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandy612 View Post
thanks. Texas is an easy going, go with the flow sorta dog. so im hoping she responds well. quick question.. when you all found out that your dog was diabetic, had your dogs already lost weight? and when u started insulin treatment, did the weight come back? since she has high ketones in her urine im wondering now if she was diagnosed too late or thats a usual symptom/sign at the diagnosis stage.

im starting her on insulin next week. i thank u all for your input it has really helped me see that there is a light in such a dark time!! i really couldnt put my dog to sleep over this.
Chelsea got sick and threw up, she never got sick before. Then over six weeks her weight went from a chubby 63 pounds to a skinny ribs showing 41 pounds and she acted like she was starving all the time, I had an appointment that was already scheduled before she lost weight and when I took her in, the vet said right away that she could smell the ketones in the room, I cannot smell ketones or even acitone nail polish remover, but I can tell her blood sugar by her breath. She now stays fairly stable right around 50 pounds give or take a pound. Seek comfort from us that support your efforts and join the diabetic dog forum as I did. We did not change any furniture around for the first year, but now we can and just bring her back in the room and show her the changes and she adjusts very well to any changes, seems to find it a thrill to explore the changes. I let her loose at the dog park and she loves it and will even run a bit, I let her out at my yards and she explores them too. Blindness was only a temporary issue for her. She is half Jack Russel terrier and herd dog and has even killed two rats since she lost her sight. She has also developed what is known as Shadow vision that blind people develop, they learn to hear sounds and echolocate from those sounds.
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Old 06-16-2013, 06:48 AM
 
803 posts, read 1,874,817 times
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DragonSlayer,

i love the pics! so cute in her angel wings and flirting with rogue lol

thank you so much for sharing your story. you love your dog and they really are our best friends.. actually they are family. Texas's breath does smell but it doesnt smell like nail polish remover. i guess it smells like normal dog breath rite now.

she has callous' on her elbows ( another suspicion i had that she was older) and i dont know if Texas will let me prick her dew claw pad. can i prick the thigh or shoulder area to test her blood? i saw youtube videos on injecting insulin. what syringes should i get? i read 31g is the most comfortable. all of you who responded have been so patient with me and my questions.. and u all have been so knowledgable and it has really helped me, thank you all again!

Texie went blind like over the last week fully. im suspecting she was going blind because im tellin you, at the shelter she was fine and playing with me and she was playing ball and frisbee at the park like a few weeks ago. she has been adjusting well as its most likley been a week or a little more of her being fully blind. i actually did rearrange my furniture.

actually i took some furniture out just to make it easier for her. shes a huge dog.i think she likes it better. i can usually find her in the middle of that room, sprawled out on the floor! lol and i wear keys or a bell around my neck just so she hears me and knows im around. i talk to her. i let her know my actions. like," i need to open this door texie, i need you to move over just a bit" , a simple "excuse me" or when shes going down stairs , i count them for her and make a huge deal when she reaches the bottom! ok im a little pathetic but i love my animals and want them to feel happy and comforted.

she def has that echolocate thing u mentioned. maybe its from talking to her soooo much or the fact that losing one sense has heightened her other senses.. but most of the time when i call her name, she will look towards my direction.

i didnt do the blood test at the vet because everything just seemed so scaryto me at the moment and i thought , dog diabetes is a death sentence. i was shocked, shocked at her age too. (but like i said, i was really surprised of her laid back behavior, i had highly suspected she wasnt a puppy.) im callin the vet as soon as they open to schedule a blood panel test. i believe they will charge just for the test and not the visit too. then after that when the results come back, she will go back to the vet for the blood curve test. and then thats when she will start her insulin. im just worried because i know she needs the insulin like, now.

im guessing insulin will start in 2 weeks or less. im hoping she can hang on til then. im so worried.

thanks again!
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Old 06-16-2013, 08:43 AM
 
Location: McKinleyville, California
6,414 posts, read 10,456,621 times
Reputation: 4304
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandy612 View Post
DragonSlayer,

i love the pics! so cute in her angel wings and flirting with rogue lol

thank you so much for sharing your story. you love your dog and they really are our best friends.. actually they are family. Texas's breath does smell but it doesnt smell like nail polish remover. i guess it smells like normal dog breath rite now.

she has callous' on her elbows ( another suspicion i had that she was older) and i dont know if Texas will let me prick her dew claw pad. can i prick the thigh or shoulder area to test her blood? i saw youtube videos on injecting insulin. what syringes should i get? i read 31g is the most comfortable. all of you who responded have been so patient with me and my questions.. and u all have been so knowledgable and it has really helped me, thank you all again!

Texie went blind like over the last week fully. im suspecting she was going blind because im tellin you, at the shelter she was fine and playing with me and she was playing ball and frisbee at the park like a few weeks ago. she has been adjusting well as its most likley been a week or a little more of her being fully blind. i actually did rearrange my furniture.

actually i took some furniture out just to make it easier for her. shes a huge dog.i think she likes it better. i can usually find her in the middle of that room, sprawled out on the floor! lol and i wear keys or a bell around my neck just so she hears me and knows im around. i talk to her. i let her know my actions. like," i need to open this door texie, i need you to move over just a bit" , a simple "excuse me" or when shes going down stairs , i count them for her and make a huge deal when she reaches the bottom! ok im a little pathetic but i love my animals and want them to feel happy and comforted.

she def has that echolocate thing u mentioned. maybe its from talking to her soooo much or the fact that losing one sense has heightened her other senses.. but most of the time when i call her name, she will look towards my direction.

i didnt do the blood test at the vet because everything just seemed so scaryto me at the moment and i thought , dog diabetes is a death sentence. i was shocked, shocked at her age too. (but like i said, i was really surprised of her laid back behavior, i had highly suspected she wasnt a puppy.) im callin the vet as soon as they open to schedule a blood panel test. i believe they will charge just for the test and not the visit too. then after that when the results come back, she will go back to the vet for the blood curve test. and then thats when she will start her insulin. im just worried because i know she needs the insulin like, now.

im guessing insulin will start in 2 weeks or less. im hoping she can hang on til then. im so worried.

thanks again!
I test Chelsea on her callous as you call it, on her elbow, I think of it as a jacket patch like doctors have on their jackets. She does not mind one bit, she hated it when I tried the inside of the ear, her lip or her toes, but her elbow patch is fine. I say "blood sugar" and she goes to the counter where the meter is, I ask her to sit, then to lay down and roll over, then I say "do cute and she brings her paws up and puts them over her eyes and sticks her elbow up for me to test and waits patiently for the prick and the meter and gives me a kiss, that is when I smell her breath, then I look at the numbers and say them out loud. It is not unusual for it to be at or around 200 when it is time for her to eat. She eats twice a day and gets a shot each time. I got the meter from Walmart for $20 and the strips are $9 for 50. I compared the meter with the vet meter and that tells me how far off it is for comparison. Chelsea started on insulin right away, no waiting two weeks. We used to walk her around and warn her of anything in her way, but now at home for all purposes, she is not blind and we have 1/3 of an acre, she goes out the dog door on her own. When we walk, she knows the light pull on the leash for left, right or stepping up, much like a horse knows the pull on the reins. She is the happiest blind dog ever. At the first holloween costume party, I was going to go Stevie Wonder with her, but she refused to wear sun glasses, that is when the idea of Angel wings came up. I took her to the dog park and at the park I unclicked her leash and she took off running in the direction of the dogs and her wings flapped like real wings, it was a hoot. There must have been close to or more than 40 dogs over 2 hours and 25 at one time. She won the contest hands down with no objections from anyone and last year she won again. Some have started calling her Angel because of the wings. She hears everything I do, she hears the insulin bottle when I take it out and ***** her head when she hears it touch the counter top. What was very interesting was that she has always adored huskies and one day there were three at the park and she smelled them and got excited and tried to play with them. I take her to my yards I maintain and I let her loose and she explores, she disappeared one day at a yard and when I looked for her, she had opened my clients door and was exploring her house, she had gone in the back door and had walked all through the house till she was in their kitchen at the side door. Do try the callous pad on your dog, it has fewer nerve endings and the blood draws easy from there and with less pain than any of the other spots, it is really very easy to do and you only need to do a curve every few months to make sure there are no drastic lows during the day, it tells you when the insulin is working and lets you know when to exercise or not. The most I have had her bg drop is from a high of 345 to 89 after a three mile walk. If it is in the 200 range, I will only do a short walk and if it is high we do a long walk. Stress also can raise the bg, she hates being left home without me and if I take her to work, her bg stays good, if I leave her, it goes high. I did a 545 mile bike ride for charity last summer and on the 12 days I was gone, her bg was high and the day I came home, it went back to a good range. She is a stubborn dog and refuses my assistance, insists on doing things her way and on her own. I have had many dogs over the years, but when I saw Chelsea when she was just 6 weeks old, I fell in love with her and when she was 5 months old she came up for adoption and I brought her home. She is my heart dog, she stole my heart the day I met her and I would do anything for her.
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Old 06-17-2013, 09:15 AM
 
803 posts, read 1,874,817 times
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dragonslayer,chelsea sounds like a great dog. and its obvious u guys have a great bond. its so great to read the love and adoration people have for their pets.

i looked at all the different meters at walmart,omg there are so many!. i would have to start her in about 2 weeks because i dont have the money right now till the end of the month. im hoping my dog hangs on. or the vet can work something outwith me. Texas has ketones in her urine so shes in the ketonic stage. i really hope she makes it! this has been completely unexpected. going forward, i will be better prepared. plus i wont have an almost $1500 bill that it cost me to fix my car a week agoo! ugh!

when i do start treatment, im going to have i think a hundred questions for the vet. whats the normal blood sugar level supposed to be? give insulin beofre or after? test blood at what times and b4 or after eating. i learned so much tho these last few days/ thanks!

Last edited by Mandy612; 06-17-2013 at 09:37 AM..
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Old 06-17-2013, 03:19 PM
 
2,557 posts, read 5,843,333 times
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We have a diabetic cat who gets 2 shots each day and eats Science Diet WD food. He is doing much better than I expected, sepecially since he sneaks the other cat's food sometimes!

I am an insulin dependent diabetic as well. I take care of me and DH and DD take care of the cat.
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Old 06-17-2013, 04:19 PM
 
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wow thanks okiegirlfriend! its great to hear that your cat did better than u expected. i hope i have a similiar outcome with my dog. but im worried. my dad is going to pay for the vet expenses for me because i cant wait 2 weeks to start treatment.

Also, when i went to the vet, the dr said her teeth were clean and gums were healthy. today i went to wipe her face and i looked at her front teeth and it looks like her teeth got longer, and darker at the gum base. i looked up online diabetic unhealthy teeth and lo and behold it looks just like periodontal disease...which i started readinmg affects diabetic jumans and pets. i feel like her diabetes is destroying her at a rapid pace. not even a week ago her teeth were fine. shes getting her cbc test, thyroid test and chemical test. all that is $150. does anyone know if thats reasonable?

thanks!
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Old 06-18-2013, 09:00 AM
 
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You should get the insulin started asap. The vet should be able to do a curve for you in one day and give you the dosage. Not sure why they are doing all these other tests unless they think something else is wrong.

I had a diabetic dog and it's not as hard as you think. I did test a couple times a day but I know some people never test and they seem to do ok as long as they check in with the vet every few months. You will learn the signs of highs and lows without testing. When they are high, they may pant and drink more water, etc.

Good luck! FYI, my dog, Daisy, didn't pass from diabetes, but she got cancer which ended her life in a matter of weeks.
If you keep up with the insulin, most diabetic dogs live a normal life.
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Old 06-18-2013, 12:19 PM
 
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dogluvr2013,

hi! thanx for responding. the vet wants to do the tests to make sure that her organs and everything else is working and that she has no infections. plus they want to see how much insulin my dogs body would need.

im sorry to read about your dog Daisy. our pets leave us tooo soon..no matter how old they are.
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Old 06-19-2013, 08:45 AM
 
Location: Paradise
4,849 posts, read 4,135,534 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dogluvr2013 View Post
I had a diabetic dog and it's not as hard as you think. I did test a couple times a day but I know some people never test and they seem to do ok as long as they check in with the vet every few months. You will learn the signs of highs and lows without testing. When they are high, they may pant and drink more water, etc.

Good luck!

If you keep up with the insulin, most diabetic dogs live a normal life.
True!

Also second the recommenation of the website/forum posted previously in the thread (K9 diabetes) - those folks are a wealth of knowledge and can really help.

When your dog is first diagnosed, it's so overwhelming - but it will get better. Getting them on insulin quickly is important. Just keeping that sugar lower (but not LOW) will help keep their organs working.

I had two dogs that were diabetic. Sally was diagnosed in 2008 about a year after a bout of pancreatitis. She lived about 18 months after diagnosis. She died due to complications of diabetes.

Buddy was diagnosed about 2 months after Sally died and we caught his because of the drinking/panting and also because he went blind. We did have the cataract surgery because sometimes the condition becomes painful for the dog and some dogs do not handle blindness well. Unfortunately he ended up losing one eye, but his sight was restored in the other eye. Buddy passed away last September due to a fungal infection. It wasn't caused by the diabetes, but diabetes can certainly make things more complicated.

I never tested either of my dogs and always had the vet do it. I did change their food to something that had fewer carbs/sugars in them (but not the prescription stuff).

Anyway good luck with your pup!
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Old 06-19-2013, 01:42 PM
 
803 posts, read 1,874,817 times
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UpDATe: things arent looking good for my dog... her front teeth look like they are getting longer and they are blackening/browning at the base where the gum is and last nite when i went to show my dad her teeth, one came right out. i called the vet and they said that this case of diabetes is really aggressive and she is progressing very fast. i think my dog is on her way out .
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