Fall is Here!
If you're anything like me, fall is a very welcome season. While I love warm weather, I also appreciate sweaters, fuzzy socks and snuggly blankets.
Fall also means the dreaded time change, shorter days, lackadaisical dogs (and humans) and festive holidays that include delicious treats and lots of visitors at our front door. With all these seasonal changes and celebration there is one thing that does not change, our dogs are diabetics. So what does fall season mean for your diabetic dog?
Grab a cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage and let’s talk fall and canine diabetes!
Time Change
Time Change is November 7, 2021 and unfortunately we haven’t gotten rid of this yet in most of the USA, the only states that don’t observe time change are Arizona and Hawaii (HATS OFF TO YOU AZ & HI!). So, what to do about our feeding and insulin schedule? Go by the clock! We have one hour to work with when it comes to food and insulin. The first couple years after Lucy was diagnosed I adjusted our schedule by 30-minute increments and while it worked out fine for us it was extra work that I did not need to put us through.
Lackadaisical dogs!
This cooler weather and shorter days can make any of us slow down and the same goes for our dogs. You may notice a difference in blood glucose levels which is fairly common, and we see this in our Facebook group Diabetic Dog Owners often. When you notice your dog’s fasting (blood glucose reading before food and insulin) levels are out of the norm; higher or lower for a period, it is time to run a curve. Insulin dosage may need to be adjusted.
Holiday Goodies
Halloween is right around the corner and for many this means doorbells ringing and sweet treats! I was lucky enough that my kids were grown and out of the house when Lucy became diabetic so there was little worry of candy being dropped. We also live in a neighborhood where we don’t get trick or treaters, so I did not have to worry about the doorbell ringing.
If you do get trick or treaters and all the excitement stresses your dog, you can either put your pup in another room until you turn off the porch light or you can leave a bucket of candy out along with a nice little note, “Please don’t knock on door, baby sleeping!” Now I know that “baby sleeping” is a little fib but people tend to respect that more than “You will upset my dog.”
If your sweet pup happens to get into Halloween candy don’t panic! The first thing you want to do is make sure it’s not sugar free candy. Xylitol is an artificial sweetener that is extremely toxic to dogs. If the candy is sweetened with xylitol please contact an ER vet immediately and have your hypoglycemia kit on hand. Xylitol causes sever hypoglycemia.
If your dog gets into chocolate, more than likely your dog will have high blood glucose levels from the sugar content. Most Halloween chocolate candies are milk chocolate which has a much lower toxicity level than dark chocolate. There is a handy chocolate toxicity calculator below that will give you a toxicity rating. Check with the toxicity calculator, contact your ER vet if necessary, encourage water consumption and extra potty breaks are all in order.
Other sugary candies will elevate blood glucose for a period of time but your dog should normalize by next meal and insulin injection. Encourage water consumption, extra potty breaks to help flush out excess glucose and test for ketones in urine if blood glucose is over 300 mg/dL (16.66 mmol/L).
I hope this blog has answered any questions you may have had about the time change, weather changes and sweets your diabetic dog may get into over the next couple of weeks.
Happy Fall!
Until next week, stay comfy and caffeinated!
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please start a conversation below.
If you are looking for a Facebook community to join for support, I have proudly been an admin in Diabetic Dog Owners for almost five years. You can also join Canine Diabetes Support and Information on Facebook as well.
Be sure to join the PetTest family on Facebook and Instagram. PetTest has fun, interactive posts AND they have fabulous giveaways every week!
Do you need a blood glucose meter kit for your diabetes arsenal? Do you need an app to track blood glucose trends, curves, medications and more? Do you need ketone urine strips to test your dog’s urine? PetTest has all that, click on the pics below to take you directly to each product!
For a printable version of this blog click here.