The Holidays and Your Diabetic Dog
Yikes, I just looked at the calendar and realized just how close we are to the end of the year! Halloween is literally just around the corner, then its Thanksgiving and Christmas and we are into a New Year! Where does the time go? Am I the only one that feels like this year is just flying by? Anyway, my point here is that there are some other things to think about during the holiday season now that you have a “Sugar Baby”.
Let’s start with Halloween… the “sugar” holiday. Don't forget to enter the photo contest for a chance to win $50.00 shoppettest.com store credit! I can't wait to see all the photos of you and your pups in costume! All you have to do is email a picture of you and your pet dressed up for Halloween to ecommerce@pharmasupply.com.
Beyond the obvious, that being that this is the most sugar dense holiday that we have, we have the added bonus of small children running around in costume ringing every doorbell that they can get to! Much like the 4 th of July, there is flight risk involved in this holiday.
If in the past, your pup has been stressed by Halloween, this may be the year to figure out a “workaround”. We all know that stress affects BG (Blood Glucose) so if this holiday has the potential to stress your pup, let’s explore some thoughts on how to mitigate that stress.
My boys always went nuts if the doorbell rang, so for Halloween, I put a small table in front of the porch with a large bowl of candy and a sign that said, “Please take 2 pieces” and leave some for the rest of the kids. This kept my doorbell from ringing over and over again for hours. I would go and watch TV in the back of the house and leave all the lights off so that nobody rang the bell if someone disobeyed the sign and emptied the bowl. This kept my boys from being completely freaked out all evening.
Last point about Halloween, if you walk your dog in a neighborhood; please keep a very close eye on the sidewalk and under bushes on your walks for the next several days. Those cute little trick or treat buckets and bags can shed candy very easily. All it takes is one little piece of candy to spike your pup and one little peanut butter cup to potentially put your pup into a pancreatitis flare.
Thanksgiving and beyond: For Thanksgiving and the rest, all we really need to worry about is food. This is the time of year when the foods that we eat are typically full of sugar and fat. The two worst things for our pups to indulge in. Oh, and family members that feel the need to sneak our pups a little morsel from their plate.
If this is your first holiday season with a “Sugar Baby”, you need to be prepared that if newly diagnosed and ravenous, your pup will try to get into things that they would never have done before. Please be sure that your trash is properly secured so your pup can’t get into it.
Your next biggest challenge will be family and friends that are visiting during the holidays that think that they are being nice to your pup by sharing a tasty tidbit with him or her. They will not understand that sharing the wrong thing will be harmful to your Diabetic dog. I made it VERY clear to anyone that came into my house that feeding my boys any human food would get them a quick walk to my front door. This may seem extreme to some of you, but a $3.000.00 vet bill for pancreatitis was not something that I was willing to do when it could all be avoided. I have been known to kick people out of my house that did not adhere to this rule. Extreme? Maybe, but my house, my rules. LOL
My boys never had human food so they did not beg. You could actually sit on the couch with a plate of food on your lap with one of them on either side of you and they would not beg for food. It never occurred to them, so they simply didn’t expect me or anyone else to share their food with them.
If you find it hard to “lay down the law” with friends and family and if you are not as mean as I am, you could put out a couple bowls of “pup friendly” snacks so if your guests feel the need to share with your dogs, they can share appropriate snacks. Perhaps some green beans or some chicken jerky or PureBites.
If you must “share” your holiday meals with them, perhaps just a couple pieces of turkey breast would suffice. There is always a way to keep your pup safe and keep them included in the festivities to whatever degree they are used to.
The long and short of it is that we just need to be a bit more diligent with the holidays now that we have a Diabetic dog. Keeping them safe and healthy is our number one priority. As always, being prepared and forewarned gets you one step closer to being able to enjoy your holiday season.
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Until next time…