Journaling for Your Diabetic Dog
We touched on the importance of journaling way back in the beginning of these blog posts, but it’s so important, I’m going to encourage you to start journaling if you aren’t already doing so. I don’t know about you, but I’m a woman “of a certain age” and although my memory is still pretty good, I can’t remember every day from 2 years ago. Ok, let’s be honest, I have to stop and really think about what I ate for lunch yesterday sometimes. Lol
Now that you have a Diabetic dog, it’s important to track progress, setbacks, trends and patterns. If you look back to the post about micromanaging your pup, you’ll see that being aware of patterns and trends is very important when it comes to effectively managing this disease. The day to day readings are important, but it’s the trends that will give you the most insight.
No two dogs are the same so keeping track of your pup is really important. Knowing how weather affects your BG (Blood Glucose) numbers will save you some worry over time. Knowing how exercise affects your numbers will help you be prepared for your walks and play sessions. Being able to spot an upward trend in your numbers will give you an early warning about a possible infection or a pancreatitis flare that is brewing.
I have a friend that has a Diabetic pup with Addison’s disease and is prone to pancreatitis. She knows that if she sees her numbers trending up, that her pup is heading toward a pancreatitis flare. She will make a few adjustments to head off the progression and prevent the flare. I have another friend that has a pup that is prone to UTIs (urinary tract infections). When she sees her numbers trending up, she watched for the signs of a UTI. Once she caught on to the pattern, she added D-Mannose to her regimen and hasn’t had any UTIs since.
Another friend has started trusting her pup more than the weather people in her area. Her “sugar baby” seems to be able to predict weather much more accurately than the meteorologists. Her pup’s numbers will start to rise from the stress of an approaching thunder storm or low pressure system. It’s really quite remarkable when you start to see the correlations between your dog’s numbers and their environment.
My journal was the most used book in the house. I tracked everything in the beginning not just fasting BG (Blood Glucose) numbers. I tracked meals, amount eaten, insulin dose adjustments, amount of exercise, what the weather was like each day, season changes, curves of course, You name it and I tracked it. The message here is that what affected my Max on any given day may not be what affects your pup.
Keeping track of the “markers” that we use to manage the disease is the most important thing in being able to predict what’s coming and understand what’s happening. I have worked with a gal and her rescue Westie for a number of years and will sometimes get a message that says that such and such is happening. I say, “Look back in your journal, didn’t this happen a couple years ago at this time of year?” She looks back and most times responds with, “Yes! How do you remember this stuff!!?” So I suggest that she read her journal about a week before, during that time and a week after to see what action she took and how it worked. So much less stressful when you realize that you’ve been through this before and you’ve written your own roadmap on how to fix it! That my friends, is the beauty of journaling!
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Until next time…