Winter and Your Diabetic Dog

I know that we have discussed season changes a few times, but winter gets its own post because there are some things to be aware of. Winter was my first season after Max was diagnosed and it was not an easy time as you all know. I was a newbie, hadn’t found my Facebook home and was facing all of these changes all at once and all alone. I was in a new place, trying to stabilize Max so I could go back to Texas.

Some of my challenges were environmental. We don’t have much snow in Texas so figuring out all of the things that go with it was an experience for us. Don’t get me wrong, I was born and raised in upstate New York so I am a product of cold and snow. Besides the fact that my boys were crazy loving the snow, running all over the place, tunneling, burrowing, wrestling, eating it, the list goes on and on. I had to make some adjustments to our daily routine to accommodate this new phenomenon.

Many Diabetic pups have trouble regulating their body temperature so winter can be a challenge. My Max was my little furnace, so it never occurred to me that he would be so sensitive to the cold, but he was. All of the sweaters that I had bought for the boys, mostly for the “cute” factor, were now a necessity. We were outside playing in the snow, they had coats on, and I realized that Max was shivering! Yikes! I scooped him up and we immediately came inside. I dried him off and wrapped him in a warm blanket and the 3 of us (Max, Finn and I) snuggled until we were all toasty warm again.

I started to do research and found that many Diabetic dogs have trouble regulating their body temp even when it isn’t an extreme condition, either hot or cold. I also found that when coming in from a walk, it was very important to get all of the “snowballs” out of their fur, especially the ones that were stuck in the area of their “armpits”. Those will chill the blood very quickly, so removing them as soon as possible is important.

Another issue with snow, ice and cold weather is the treatment that they put on the roads and sidewalks. Be sure that after each walk, you not only dry your pup off, but that you rinse their paws in warm water, don’t just wipe them off, you need to dip them in a container of warm water to soak all of that salt and chemical residue off of their pads. I kept a “Paw Plunger” inside the front door so that it was handy when we returned from our walks. Give their bellies a bit of a wipe down with a warm damp cloth also since the spray from their walking is likely on their belly.

If that seems like a lot of work, you may just want to get some booties to keep the stuff off of their paws to begin with. I used  MuttLuks as they are fleece lined and my boys seemed to tolerate them quite well.

Here is my Finn in his winter attire and both of my boys in their snow gear. There are several brands of “booties” available in all shapes, colors and sizes. My boys did better with the ones that weren’t rigid. Although it was comical to watch them try them, it was clear that they weren’t happy with them. So we settled on Muttluks.

Another thing to be diligent with is checking BG (Blood Glucose), I have mentioned in the past that Max needed less insulin during the colder months. Most pups need more, but we were never “normal”. So please test diligently, like always, and make any adjustments that are warranted (following the proper procedures of course).

We had another incident that arose from winter weather and I will cover that in our next blog post.

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Until next time…