What Are We So Afraid of With Our Diabetic Dogs?
Well that is an endless list in the beginning. What was I afraid of in the beginning? Let’s see, I was afraid of giving shots, I was afraid that I would make a mistake and Max would suffer, I was afraid that my injection technique was bad, I was afraid that I wasn’t up to the task. When you’re talking about your pup that you love with all of your heart, it is daunting!
We often see that vets don’t recommend home testing. That is such a mistake in my opinion. Home testing is the key to controlling this disease. It is also the key to removing anxiety for us. I can’t imagine seeing that something is definitely wrong with your pup and not knowing what it is. Does it have something to do with diabetes or is it something else? If your pup is acting “off” if you aren’t home testing, you are literally flying blind. If your pup is running high BG (Blood Glucose) and you don’t know that and apply syrup to their gums, you are making the situation worse instead of better. In your defense, if you aren’t testing, there was no way to know that it wasn’t hypoglycemia so you treated it as if it was.
I know that the thought of poking for a blood test fills us with some dread, but there are places on your pup that have very few nerve endings so the test is relatively painless. I tested on the inside of the upper lip. Now any of you ladies that have had your upper lip waxed will equate that pain with what you are being told to do to your dog. Trust me, it’s not the same. There are so few nerve endings in the lip in front of the canine tooth in your dog’s mouth, it won’t phase them. If you have a big dog with an elbow callus, they won’t feel a thing. There are a bunch of other areas on your pup that are great spots as well. See the prior blog post on that topic here: https://shoppettest.com/blog/injection-sites-for-your-diabetic-dog/
Typically what we see happen is that a pup has a hypo event and it freaks the owner out seeing the seizure. That will get people testing in a hurry. Please don’t let it come to that, be proactive and learn how to test sooner rather than later.
In today’s Facebook question of the day, we learned that fear is the biggest deterrent to home testing. Please put your fears aside and do this for your dog. It really is the greatest gift that you can give them.
Speaking of our Facebook page, be sure to check us out there for the question of the day, a giveaway every Friday and offers for discounts and savings.
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Until next time…