The Importance of Journaling

If you don’t have a journal yet… GET ONE! 

Oops, sorry didn’t mean to yell, but this is important! One of the very best ways to manage canine diabetes is to collect data on your pup. You may have an excellent memory, but please don’t rely on that when it comes to managing this disease. You will want to have your own daily records to help you manage this very dynamic disease.

If you are newly diagnosed, you’re probably thinking, “Why do I have to journal? I give 4 units twice a day.” Take it from someone that has been there, your journal will become your best friend right behind your meter! There are so many things that affect BG (blood glucose) readings; you will want to be as familiar with your dog’s patterns as possible. It will save you much angst in the long run. I dare say that my journal was the most referred to book in my life!

Here are some of the things that I tracked in my journal and why:

Fasting BG (blood glucose): That’s the number before meals. You want to know that your pup is in a safe range to inject his or her insulin.

Food: What the meal consisted of, what time was the meal and how much was eaten. This is important because if the entire meal wasn’t eaten, you won’t inject a full dose of insulin. If you don’t inject a full dose of insulin, you want to remember why and what affect it had on BG numbers, behavior, etc.

Insulin: Some people will wait for 10-15 minutes after the meal to be sure that the food stays down. If your pup isn’t a vomiter and BG was in a safe range, you can inject immediately.

I’ll pause here to mention that this is the meal time regimen: test, feed, inject. This is the order, in my opinion, that is best for you and your pup.

Those are the big three things to track in your journal. Here are some of the other things that I tracked daily and why.

Weather: Because my sugar baby’s insulin needs were tied to weather (sounds crazy, right?), I know that some of you are shaking your heads and chuckling right now, but as you continue on your journey, you will see that every dog is different, but there are many similarities. Usually we see that warmer weather causes many pups to need less insulin… not my boy, nope, warmer weather, more insulin. Go figure!

Exercise: My boys got 2-3 walks a day. I happened to wear one of those step trackers so I would enter how many steps we walked, the duration of the walk and the distance (not always that far since I had two little Westies sniffing every blade of grass along the way). Exercise can be a big factor that affects BG, so in the beginning I would suggest that you test before you leave and right when you get home so you know how a walk affects your numbers. Of course when you leave for your walk, you’ll want to be sure that you have a fanny pack or a Ziplock bag or something to carry your meter, strips, treats (in the event that you have a low reading along the way) one of your S.O.S. syringes and of course the usual poop bags, etc. It is recommended to wait an hour or an hour and a half after an insulin injection before any exercise so that the absorption of the insulin is consistent.

Many people check urine for ketones once a day, I didn’t unless BG was running in a higher than normal range. If numbers were elevated, I checked every pee until numbers came back into our normal range.

You’ll also want to track any other medications or supplements that your pup is taking whether it be daily or for short duration. (For example an antibiotic, prednisone or other new supplement, did it affect BG?)

There is some very good journaling software available, and while I used one daily, I also kept my good old notebook journal faithfully. It saved me so much time and energy to be able to just look back in my journal at season changes and reassure myself, oh yeah, this happened last year. Phew!

There are many things that you can keep track of and you will figure out what information is most relevant in your journey. Just track that or use it for a more detailed information gathering tool.

If you have questions, please feel free to comment and ask. If it is a question that requires a fairly long answer, I will give a short (hopefully comprehensive) answer and you may just see that topic as another blog entry down the road with a more thorough answer.

Until next time… happy journaling!