Learn the Fundamentals for Your Diabetic Dog: Part 1

Today we talk about taking some of the stress away from your “new normal”. I don’t know about you, but as I have shared many times, I was quite the train wreck when my Max was diagnosed. I see people every day that seem to take it all in stride. Either that or their panic and sense of being overwhelmed don’t translate to their written words! LOL

I found during my own journey with Canine Diabetes that the more that I learned, the more confident I became in my ability to treat Max. With that confidence came a sense of “I can do this; I don’t have to stress every minute.” So let’s take the stress factor apart here. What are we afraid of?

Hypoglycemic Event:

I was very afraid of a hypo event mostly because I knew that it could be fatal and partly because the only thing that the vet told me was, “If he has a seizure or becomes unresponsive, rub Karo syrup on his gums and bring him in right away. “ Yikes! So in the beginning, that was my biggest fear. When I found my  Canine Diabetes Community, I found out the proper way to treat a hypoglycemic event. Karo, Protein/Carb snack and continue to test. Well, now a hypo event is even easier if you have the  Glucose SOS. Just grab that syringe, put the appropriate amount of SOS in your pup’s mouth and you don’t have to deal with Karo (or honey or syrup), or the snack. You’ll feed a bit of kibble after the SOS, test every 20 minutes or so until you are confident that BG (Blood Glucose) has come up and is staying up and then move on with your day. I’m not making light of a hypo event, I’m just saying that once you know how to treat it, there’s really very little to fear. After you get through your first one and are prepared with the knowledge that you need, it seems far less daunting.

High BG (Blood Glucose) numbers:

Let’s face it; this one is something that we all go through especially in the beginning. It’s also the thing that we have the least control over if we are going slow and steady to find our perfect dose. If you are like me, you want results and you want them now! Well, take a step back and breathe because trying to get results too quickly can land you in a not so good place. What you can do is make sure that you are feeding the appropriate amount of food for your pups ideal weight, keeping to your 12 hour schedule, testing at home, providing lots of fresh water and journaling all of your steps along the way. I know that it seems like those numbers will never come into a good range, but believe me they will if you are taking your time. If you have a vet that says, increase your dose and come back in two to three weeks, I think that I would be SURE that I was testing at home and developing a strong rapport with my vet and letting him/her know that although they don’t seem to feel a sense of urgency to get my pup in a safe range, it is really important to you! I believe that like in most scenarios, being a part of the solution is better than becoming a problem in your vet’s world. So if it were me, I would be testing at least twice a day, running one curve a week, sharing that information with the vet with a suggested plan. When doing this, you are showing your commitment and respect for the vet and his/her time. It would go something like this:

Dear Dr. _______,

Please find attached Max’s fasting numbers for the last week and the results from yesterday’s curve. Based on these results, I believe that I can safely raise him ½ a unit (or 1 full unit for a large dog) because the lowest number in his curve can afford to come down the 50 points (or 100 points) that I expect the increase to deliver.

Respectfully,

Me

By approaching it this way, you are showing your vet respect while also demonstrating that you are doing your research and have a “why” behind the proposed plan. Proving that you have a grasp on the treatment and management of this disease may make your vet respect you and be more open to your thoughts on managing your pup’s disease. This brings us to our next topic, which I will cover in our next post. Yet again, I got long winded here and have to continue in Part 2.

Notice that for most of the products or groups that I mention, the text is linked to a website that you can purchase that item or a link to join the group mentioned. Just click on the colored text (red or blue, depending what device you are on) and it should take you right to the item or group. If you have any thoughts or ideas for topics that you’d like to see covered here, please feel free to comment below or send me an email at NancyForPetTest@PharmaSupply.com. As always, please “like” this blog post or any of the others that have helped you or just refreshed your memory. Look for new posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!

Until next time…