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​Medications and Your Diabetic Dog

Posted by Nancy For PetTest AAHA Certified Diabetes Educator on Dec 25th 2019

​Medications and Your Diabetic Dog

Medications and Your Diabetic Dog

We have touched on this topic in earlier posts, but it warrants a “revisit” here. So today we talk about how medications affect our now Diabetic dogs. You will always want to remind the prescribing vet that your pup is diabetic and likely will need a longer course of medication than most because Diabetics can be slow healers, especially if it is a bacterial infection that is being treated.

Why a longer course of antibiotics? Good question! Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections of some type. Bacteria grow much faster and remain much longer when there is a constant “food source”, that source being sugar or glucose. Being that our pups have a constant supply of glucose, a bacterial infection can be difficult to get rid of because it is constantly being fed. While a typical UTI (urinary tract infection) can be treated in 7-10 days in a non-diabetic pup, it can take 2 – 3 times as long in our pups because of the elevated glucose. This is one of the reasons that we suggest that you use the  D-Mannose at night right before bed to prevent a UTI. Preventing it in the first place is so much better than having to treat it for 2-3 weeks and risking antibiotic resistance later down the line.

Now that you have a Diabetic Dog, you will also need to be a detective when it comes to steroids being an ingredient in any medication that is prescribed to your pup. Steroids will affect your BG (Blood Glucose) numbers. In most, steroids will cause numbers to rise and I suppose that in a few it could have the opposite effect. I have only seen that one time, but anything is possible and every dog is different.

Many vets believe that using steroids topically will not affect BG (Blood Glucose) numbers but I can tell you that they do. Whether they are eye drops or a topical cream of some sort, it will impact your numbers. Always, always ask if there is a non-steroidal alternative. In most cases there is an alternative. In the event that there isn’t an alternative then you have to do what you have to do and use the steroids. You can always match your insulin to the medication while you are using it and back off again when the meds are done.

In many cases, when a more serious illness pops up, the Diabetes will have to take a back seat. You do what you must for the other illness and match your insulin needs to the other situation. It isn’t ideal, but again, we do what we must to keep our pups safe.

In short, always remind the prescribing vet that your pup is Diabetic and it will take a longer course of treatment to clear an infection. Always google any medication that is prescribed to check for steroids, Gentamicin, and anything else hiding in it that can be harmful to our pups.

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Until next time…