Will An Infection Affect My Diabetic Dog? Part One
Today we will discuss how an infection can impact BG (Blood Glucose) for your Diabetic Dog. As you can see from previous posts, many things can have an effect on your pup’s numbers so today we will address infections.
It has been my experience that when there is an infection present in the body, BG (Blood Glucose) runs higher than usual. If you are testing at home, you may notice an upward trend in BG (Blood Glucose) numbers. If you haven’t changed food or exercise during that upward trend, then our next thought is an infection.
Are you noticing increased thirst, urination or straining to pee? These are all indicators that your pup may have the beginnings of a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) or that they for sure have one. As we have mentioned before, UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections) are very common in Diabetic Dogs. It’s a byproduct of an excess amount of sugar in the bladder. If their BG (Blood Glucose) is over 180, excess glucose will spill into the bladder and because they likely go long intervals without going out to empty their bladder, the sugar will feed any bacteria that are present there.
There is an at home test that you can do to check for a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) called PawCheck. Or you can collect a sample and drop it off at your vet’s office for them to run a test to see if you will need antibiotics. Remember that you will need a longer course of antibiotics to treat any infection that is present in your pup. In the larger support groups online, there are discount codes available. In our Facebook group Canine Diabetes Support and Information you will find that our Founders have worked with PawCheck and many others to negotiate discounts for our members to keep this disease as affordable as possible. If your budget allows, I’d grab one or two of these simple test kits to have in your supplies. Once again, a simple at home test, can head off a larger expense down the road.
Many use D-Mannose and/or cranberry as part of their daily regimen to keep UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections) at bay. You will want to give this the very last thing before bed so it sits in the bladder overnight.It works wonders to keep your pup’s urinary tract in good condition.
Next let’s talk about oral hygiene. Is your pup’s breath worse than usual? You may find that your “Sugar Baby” needs a dental cleaning. I know that it’s something that many of us put off, but now that your pup is diabetic, you need to pay close attention to the health of their mouth. We have seen quite often that when a pup’s owner is having trouble getting BG (Blood Glucose) under control, the culprit is that the pup needs a dental. Once that is done, we see an improvement in numbers.
I bought a dental kit (about $12.00 on Amazon) and managed plaque buildup myself at home. If you have recently had a dental done, now is the perfect time to start brushing your pup’s teeth every day.You will need to be careful if you use flavored dog toothpaste as it likely has a sweetener of some sort in it. I used a tiny bit of organic coconut oil on a three sided dog toothbrush right before bed each night. Many use a piece of gauze wrapped around their finger with just water to “brush” their pup’s teeth.
If brushing isn’t for you and your pup, there are some very good products on the market for this purpose; you will need to test before you try them and again about an hour after to see if BG (Blood Glucose) is affected. I used Petzlife foam (it comes in two flavors) to control plaque and tartar in both of my pups, diabetic and non-diabetic. It has a bit of alcohol in it and that may affect your numbers, so be sure to check it. Many have great success with Plaque off which is a powder that you put on food and it seems to do the job also. This is a fairly new product and seems to work well without affecting numbers for most.
I had planned to cover a couple other issues in this post as well, but as you see, I got a little long winded, so there will be a part two for this post.
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Until next time…