Help needed with Diabetic Dog

turfey21

Hi all,

Our 5 1/2 year old rottie !!!!! was diagnosed with Diabetes in July. We noticed on the Sunday that she started to drink more than usual and needed a wee. So on the Monday we took her to the vet - they did all the tests and confirmed mellitus diabetes.
She was booked in the next day to be spayed and ever since then she has still not been stable.
She has gone from a healthy 50kg to now weighing 36.6kg.
We have gone to the end of our tether with our vet who seems to not be doing anything. We went to see another vet today and they also are not much good.
From what we can see and from knowing our dog we have done the following.
She is fed on Royal Canin and Hills Mobility and also has a can of Hills puppy chicken in the morning and a tin of Applaws Chicken Breast in the evening.
She has .28 of caninsulin in the evening and we have done a glucose curve over the weekend.
It was pretty much level for 24 hours. Ranging from 21.7 - 30+ - we have given this to our vets and they seem to think the insulin is not working - which we had kinda figured out as after giving the insulin it did not lower her glucose level. If anything after she has her insulin she gets hot, pants, drinks lots (during the day she does not drink anymore than normal or get hot or anything)
She gets exercised twice a day
She has had tonsilitis and now over the last few days we have noticed the whites of her eyes are turning red which the vet reckons is an infection - but we are sure it is due to glucose toxicity.
On reading on the net it appears that she is either
1) true insulin resistance - ie there has been no signfiicant drop in blood sugar levels when the insulin is given, and there is a history of prior increases in insulin dose all met with minimal response.
3) Has an infection - due to to much sugar in their urine, a urine culture should be done. If no infection is found then they should do a complete blood test to check for kidney infection, liver disease or pancreatitis.

It it is left unchecked then ketocidosis can develop which can be life threatening.

We are at our wits end and don't know what to do, we still think that there is a problem with the hormones as we also have a full male rottie who is never normally interested in our !!!!! until she is in season - however he always sniffs her bed and area when she moves from it and wees over her wee when we are out now.

She is such a happy dog and it is sad to see her losing so much weight and we feel helpless in trying to lower her blood sugar levels.

We have thought about changing her diet but even when we gave her chicken breast and some carrots it did not lower her levels at all over a 24 hour period.

Has someone else had this problem with their dogs being hyperglycemic and how they overcame it.

Am going back to see orginal vet tomorrow and show her the glucose curve and also get her to check her a bladder infection and do full bloods.

wannabepennypincher

I would take a look at some of the diabetic pets forums and see if you can maybe get a recommendation of a vet in your area that is particularly good with diabetic animals.

When Charley was first diagonsed we were at the vets every 2 weeks until we got his sugar under control.

Try not to spend too much time googling though, you will end up worrying yourself sick. Hope all goes well tomorrow.

turfey21

Hi,

thanks for your reply, our problem is that we live in Cornwall and there is not a vet down here that is experienced with diabetes which is a right pain as we just want someone to be doing something.

Cheers

motherbear

Have you tried getting in touch with Cornwall veterinary hospital? They may be able to put you in touch with a vet with more experience with diabetes or they may suggest getting your existing vet to refer you to them.

albacookie

Are you anywhere near these guys?
http://www.rcvs.org.uk/Templates/System/practicedetail.asp?NodeID=89812&PracticeNodeID=373684&SearchType=practice

(for some reason I can't link to their own web page)

True insulin resistance wouldn't be diagnosed till she was having 2units of insulin per kilo bodyweight and still not responding.

MrsTinks

You need to find a vet you are happy with to start with... although if you go to half a dozen vets and they all say the same thing then please consider taking their word for it?
No-one on here can (or are allowed) to give you medical advice - you need to work with your vet on this!
I hope you manage to find a vet you feel you can work with and that your dog gets better soon! It's horrible when our "kids" are poorly and we can't make them better