Diabetic Doggy..

buddywitch

Hi, my faithful friend Buddy age 5yrs 6months was diagnosed with diabetes last December and after a lot of patience we have almost got the insulin levels right and he's becoming quite stable. He is so much happier now and has alot more energy.

Now, the thing is that this is all costing me a bloomin fortune. I have managed to source syringes, food from the online pharmacy. The vet has recommended that he has Royal canin weight control (also for diabetic dogs), but Buddy wont eat it just dry. I have looked at the wet Royal canin W/D but there is no flavor to it at all, so i have thought about giving him fresh (cooked)chicken, carrots and green beans. Has anyone had experience with this before with a dog and what foods did you feed yours. Obviosly i want to give him the best that i can, as he is still very young i want to keep him going as long as i can and he is comfotable.

tankgirl1

buddywitch wrote: »

Hi, my faithful friend Buddy age 5yrs 6months was diagnosed with diabetes last December and after a lot of patience we have almost got the insulin levels right and he's becoming quite stable. He is so much happier now and has alot more energy.

Now, the thing is that this is all costing me a bloomin fortune. I have managed to source syringes, food from the online pharmacy. The vet has recommended that he has Royal canin weight control (also for diabetic dogs), but Buddy wont eat it just dry. I have looked at the wet Royal canin W/D but there is no flavor to it at all, so i have thought about giving him fresh (cooked)chicken, carrots and green beans. Has anyone had experience with this before with a dog and what foods did you feed yours. Obviosly i want to give him the best that i can, as he is still very young i want to keep him going as long as i can and he is comfotable.

Hi
Have you tried Chappie? It is high fibre so ideal for the slow release of energy that diabetics need, and is cheap and palatable!
I have known lots of vets who recommend it :money:

buddywitch

Thanks, i have heard that a few people have given their dogs this. We are going to the vets later so i shall ask him then, we had a wobbly spell at the park this morning and had to carry him (33kg) back to the car. He seems okay now he has had his breakfast and insulin.

Mayflower10cat

Might he have hypo'd at the park???? Just wondering, walkies pre-breakfast. (We cared for a diabetic cat for three years.) We tried to feed a mainly wet diet to keep carbs down. And yes, I did do some cooking for him and I'm sure Buddy would benefit from tasty, homecooked vegetables and meat. BTW, did you know that green beans count as a 'free food' for diabetics? Lots of lovely fibre there! I'll bet you get through vials of insulin on an almost weekly basis? If you ask your vet nicely for a prescription (you pay for this) you can order online and save quite a bit. Vet-medic were very good. A friend of mine found she could save £6 a vial this way - her vet was much more expensive than ours. Also, I know you've sourced syringes already, but if you ever run out you can buy them OTC at the chemists, no prescription needed. They'll be cheaper than at the vets, as there's no VAT on medical supplies for humans. Very best wishes to you - I know how tough it is at times, but I'll bet you feel closer to him than ever before. Love to Buddy!

buddywitch

Mayflower10cat wrote: »

Might he have hypo'd at the park???? Just wondering, walkies pre-breakfast. (We cared for a diabetic cat for three years.) We tried to feed a mainly wet diet to keep carbs down. And yes, I did do some cooking for him and I'm sure Buddy would benefit from tasty, homecooked vegetables and meat. BTW, did you know that green beans count as a 'free food' for diabetics? Lots of lovely fibre there! I'll bet you get through vials of insulin on an almost weekly basis? If you ask your vet nicely for a prescription (you pay for this) you can order online and save quite a bit. Vet-medic were very good. A friend of mine found she could save £6 a vial this way - her vet was much more expensive than ours. Also, I know you've sourced syringes already, but if you ever run out you can buy them OTC at the chemists, no prescription needed. They'll be cheaper than at the vets, as there's no VAT on medical supplies for humans. Very best wishes to you - I know how tough it is at times, but I'll bet you feel closer to him than ever before. Love to Buddy!

Buddy had wobbly moment a few weeks a go and i took him to the vets straight away. His glucose was fine, but he had x-rays done an dthat showed that he had gastritis. Buddy was on anti-biotic for 20days and for the last 7days he was ok. Maybe the stomach problems are back. Buddy is lying quitely on his bed, he ate his breakfast fine and he seems okay at the moment.

How many times do you use your syringes? My vet said that you can use them 2-3 times, which is what i do. Buddy also has to have caninsulin syringes as they have to be compatable with the insulin, but using them multiple times helps with the cost.

Green beans, Thats runner beans or french beans yes? I got loads growing im the garden along with carrots and loads of other veg.

janeys

Hi my dog is diabetic diagnosed about 2 years ago. We feed him dry chappie moistened with water as recomended by the vet. We buy our insulin from vet-medic, it is cheaper the more you buy. he is on caninsulin, we use his syringes twice, i.e 1 syringe a day. No one has told us how often to use them but they can get blunt and we felt that this was acceptable, We also get our supplies from hyperdrug and medicanimal. we feed our dog raw carrotts, which he loves as there is little sugars in these. we also use the dried chappie nuggets as bribes/titbits for him when he is on his walks.

buddywitch

I just realised that i had put to use the syringes 3-4 times (duh). I use them 3 times, and have edited my post.

That sounds good, i am currently paying £52 per 14kg bag of Royal canin, which lasts 1 month. I will speak with the vet later, mind you they are the ones who stock the food, so they obviosly want to push it. Overall our vet is really good, has had Buddy in on a few emergency appointments of late. I have found the food he is one cheapest (so far) on www.viovet.co.uk .

What does you use as a vessel to take urine samples to the vets? I was using steralized jars and then i ran out, so i went to the doctors and asked at reception if they did the vessels and they gave me one, they didnt ask what it was for, so i didnt tell them.

Mayflower10cat

Anti-bs sorry, more accurately, Infection can elevate bgs.

buddywitch wrote: »

How many times do you use your syringes? My vet said that you can use them 2-3 times, which is what i do. Buddy also has to have caninsulin syringes as they have to be compatable with the insulin, but using them multiple times helps with the cost.

We used insulin syringes once only as they were so relatively cheap; however, we did Sub-Q fluids (for CRF) at home via a relatively expensive bit of kit called a butterfly line and we'd use those two or three times. We'd refrigerate the line between uses to hopefully minimise any risk of infection. But I did know of plenty of other sugar parents that used their insulin syringes two three times.

Green beans, got loads growing im the garden along with carrots and loads of other veg.
Yes, I always assumed they meant French beans and I used to buy them from Iceland very cheaply when I wasn't growing them or we'd eaten all our frozen ones. I imagine a dog would eat them much more readily than a cat (!) I used to make 'cat stew' with cheap chicken portions and water, simmered right down and finely chopped green beans added at the end.

Please, do feel free to mail me or PM me as diabetes in pets is still a subject close to my heart.

Sorry, just saw your queation above about urine samples. You can check your dogs urine at home for glucose very easily - just buy Bayer Diastix or (keto-diastix) from the chemist OTC about £9 for 50. Follow the timing directions for getting a reading and always use fresh urine .

buddywitch

I searched the bean canes last night and found a handful of lovely young tender runners, and pulled some baby carrots. Chopped up runners and blitzed the carrots a bit and gave to him with his chicken(cooked) and buscuits. I didnt cooked the veg a gave it to him fresh. He goobled that up and then again for his breakfast this morning.

I asked the vet yesterday about giving Buddy 'Chappie', and he didnt seem in favor of the meat or dry. He did a glucose and it was a bit low, so he probably did have a bit of a hypo yesterday morning, he said to lower the insulin down to 13i/u. Buddy also has an ear infection, and has some drops. Off to see insurance people this mronong as i need to make a claim on the food that he has, think im almost running out of claim money now.

paddypaws101

I have a diabetic cat and test his BG at home with a cheap human glucometer...Freedom freestyle lite...so I always know what his BG is. We test on a cat's ear....I think you will find info on google/youtube as in how to test a dog. It is VERY easy once you get used to it, bribery works wonders in getting the animal to get used to it too!
For cats we feed an ultra low carb diet, dogs need more carb I know, but still fairly low so as to avoid spikes in BG. Remember though that if you lower carb intake there will be a decreased need for insulin and therefore you need to check BG to avoid hypo.

Mayflower10cat

Buddywitch - I used to type this phrase often; 'the best veterinary diet in the world isn't going to work if your pet won't eat it!' It's so much simpler to find a food that they eat reliably and consistently and work the insulin dose around it. And to be honest he's your dog, you're his advocate and the vet is giving you an opinion, not a command! I have the greatest respect for vets, all ours have been fantastic. But they will all freely admit they are like GP's, knowing something about everything without being a specialist in any one condition. In time, if you keep reading and learning and researching diabetes in dogs, you'll have a far more indepth, hands-on knowledge than most vets do. petdiabetes dot com is a fantastic resource of information.
We used to test our diabetic cat's blood at home, with a glucometer from the chemist, saving us a fortune in vet bills. We'd test him before each insulin shot, just like a human diabetic would. We did all our own glucose curves, graphed them and printed off a copy for the vets file. Even now, I'd still far rather give an injection to a cat than try and pill one!!!