Today we continue chatting about how to build our confidence when it comes to Canine Diabetes. Last time we covered the fear of hypoglycemic events, high numbers and how to feel competent enough to treat our now Diabetic dog. Let’s continue.
Always ask/know WHY:
I am not now, nor have I ever been a “blind follower”. I always want to know why I’m being told to do something. Maybe it’s a carry-over from that annoying age that all kids go through when all they ask is why and all they answer is no. The point here is that you should always understand the why of treatment. If the vet says, “You have to feed your dog this food now” is it too much to ask why that is the case? I think not and if they have no other answer besides, “It’s what my textbook says”, then perhaps doing your own research is warranted. To be fair to your vet, they don’t have the singular focus that you do on this one disease. They have a gazillion other cases and diseases to know enough about to advise wisely. Because you have that singular focus, you have the time and energy to devote to this one disease. Don’t just become belligerent and say no, perhaps you could say something like, “I know from experience that Max doesn’t do well with that much fiber or that many grains, how about I do some research and let you know what my top choices are and we can decide together”. This may fly or it may not, but at the end of the day, this is YOUR dog and you get to have a say in his/her treatment.
Ketones:
I have yet to hear of or know of a diagnosing vet that explains the importance of testing for ketones at home. Being that DKA can be fatal, knowing that your pup has none or some ketones present is a really important piece of information to know. Considering that the main reason that our pups “throw” ketones is high BG (Blood Glucose) numbers and we ALL had them in the beginning, it stands to reason that we should be testing for ketones right from the start! Am I wrong? Testing for ketones at home is just one simpler, inexpensive step to take to keep the stress away. Knowing that they are there, if they are, gives you the opportunity to treat them before they become an emergency. You may want to refer back to the blog entitled “Testing For Ketones” to refresh your memory about this topic. In short, if your strip reads negative, yay! No action needed. If it reads “trace”, you will want to encourage water consumption to flush out those ketones. If the strip reads higher than a trace, you can continue to encourage water consumption or you can take your pup in for some sub-q (subcutaneous fluids). If ketones continue to build, you will definitely want to take your pup in while sub-q fluids are enough treatment. Once they get too high, a hospital stay and IV fluids are necessary. The lesson here is, test at home frequently when numbers are high and take the appropriate action before it becomes a life-threatening situation and hospitalization is required.
Vision retention:
We are all afraid of this possibility once we see the statistics on it. How can we do all that we can to protect our pup’s vision? The first thing that we do is test at home. This gives us the ability to keep our pup as close to a BG (Blood Glucose) of 200 as possible. If you are diligent from day one in your testing and working hard at getting your numbers in the safe range (150-250), you stand a decent chance of preserving their sight. You can also give the OcuGlo supplement to promote eye health and perhaps hold off the cataracts for as long as possible. Some pups lose their sight right away while others never lose it at all. There is really no way to know which your pup will be. In any case, you can only do your best.
To circle back to the beginning of this topic, when you learn the fundamentals of the disease, and you know what to do in most of the likely situations, your confidence will grow and you will feel less freaked out at every little thing. With knowledge comes wisdom, with wisdom comes power. You are not powerless over this disease. You can approach each day with the attitude that we will do our best today and hope that it’s a good one.
Always keep in mind that your sweet pup is still the same as he/she was before diagnosis, he/she is not the number on the meter and obsessing about that number isn’t going to bring it down. Your stress will affect your pup in many ways and none of them good. Try to put your obsession down and have some fun with your pup just like you did before. Experience your walks through his/her eyes with joy and excitement, put on some music and let your pup see you be silly and carefree. What I’m saying here is to step away from the disease in between fasting numbers, experience life, enjoy life, enjoy your pup! If you are successful at this, I bet your numbers will come down a bit.
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Until next time…