I adopted one of the few diabetic greyhounds in the country, and I get loads of e-mails from frustrated doggie and kitty mommies and daddies, exasperated with their quest to stabilize their beloved's blood sugar.
Disclaimer: I am not a veterinarian. My Ph.D. is in Applied Linguistics from New York University, yet I have managed to amass a storehouse of knowledge about diabetes in dogs and how to deal with it. I can tell you what worked for me; I am not giving direct medical advice regarding the dog or cat in your care.
Let's get started:
When people get diabetes, they go to what basically is Diabetes School. They learn about the disease and how to successfully manage it. But when dogs or cats become diabetic (and that can happen in a couple of different ways), their people are often left to fend for themselves, navigating through the maze of products and the ups and downs that come with diabetes. It took a year to get Violet Rays regulated, and that's not unusual, but it could have taken less time, and it certainly could have cost less than $15,000.
Here are some of the lessons I learned:
Don't adopt a diabetic dog unless you can deal with some health-related drama and trauma. Oh, and needles and blood.
The least expensive, most effective way to regulate your animal is from home, with the help of a glucometer. You draw all blood (just a tiny drop) and chart progress. I took a reading of Violet’s blood sugar once an hour at first, and eventually decreased that to once or twice a day (before giving her insulin), and finally to a couple of times a week. If her blood glucose is under 147, go down a unit, if over, go up one, but never more than one, as that could lead to crashing, seizures, and coma.
Keep Karo syrup in the house, and if the reading goes below 50 (Violet's was 15 once), put about a Tbsp. of it on her gums. If she's still upright and conscious, give her a meal rather than the Karo. The amount of Karo administered is weight-dependent. Violet is 62 pounds.
Don't "chase the perfect curve," meaning, don't strive for blood sugar of 80-150 all day--it's not going to happen. Diabetic dogs can feel fabulous a lot of the time, not-so-good some of the time, and bad occasionally. That's your goal, and it's easily reached.
Insulin, exercise, food, and stress level all combine to produce the blood glucose number, so if one of those variables is significantly different than usual, the animal's mood and energy will be affected.
As exercise increases, insulin need decreases. o As stress increases, insulin need decreases. o As food amount increases, insulin need increases. o As quality of food increases, insulin need decreases.
Notice that last one. When it comes to dogs (less so with cats), what to feed is quite controversial. There are the raw food people who are convinced that raw meat and bones are best, and they have veterinarians who will back them up. Then there are the vegan people who are convinced that a vegan diet is best and have vets to back them up. Not to be outdone, there are the people who believe grains aren’t good for cats and dogs and feed only grain-free (but not necessarily raw) food. They’ve got plenty of research and vets to back them up, too. My experience tells me that each dog is an individual, and should be treated as such, and that includes food.
When it comes to diabetes, I suggest finding a mentor. There's nothing worse than going it alone--trust me. Likewise, there's nothing better than having someone to talk to about your challenges. Furthermore, empower yourself by educating yourself, finding a good vet (and why not try a holistic vet?) and experiment with different foods until you find the one that helps your beloved diabetic pet thrive.
Mary Martin, PhD is a writer/editor who lives in South Florida with her husband, two rescued greyhounds and one rescue cat. She has blogged daily at Animal Person since mid-2006.
I adopted one of the few diabetic greyhounds in the country, and I get loads of e-mails from frustrated doggie and kitty mommies and daddies, exasperated with their quest to stabilize their beloved's blood sugar.
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