Girlie Has Diabetes

[pturo]

My 12 year old border collie has diabetes. She has been acting strange, listless, and grumpy,shakey, and drinking gallons of water and peeing everwhere and has had problems with her rear legs functioning.
I took her in and she was off the charts for glucose (600 vs 150 normal for a dog)
So now she needs a shot a day, which is easy and is already improving. No treats or extra carbs for her anymore.
I've been told that the rear leg problems could be diabetic neuropathy and is reversable with methyl-B12.

Anyone have a diabetic pet?

 

[autowasherfreak]

Sorry to hear about that. I had a friend who had a diabetic cat once, and he was also diabetic. I hope everything works out for you.

 

[qsd-dan]

Good God, diabetes? Do you feed her a lot of sugary table scraps (my dad was known for that one) or is it just bad luck? Either way, you have my condolences!

 

[kenmore58]

My previous cat had diabetes, which I dealt with for 4 years before it finally took its toll on him at 17 years old.

It was a very manageable disease, just requires patience, and a good support system. Since I was involved in a long-distance relationship at the time, I needed to have people on the weekends to give insulin shots while I was away.

Other than that, once you get on a system, it's not that bad.

Ron

 

[toggleswitch2]

Ditto Ron's (Kenmore58's) post, above.

Hated needles, learned how to give insulin shot. Cat only hissed at me once!

It was exepnsive as were the follow-up check-ups. As more and more unit of insulin were needed, (In my case one unit per pound of weight) the diabetes (or rather the blood-sugar level) would oscilate [or do I meand to say vascilate?] ah no --fluctuate-- wildly.

She passed quietly. Luckily she only missed her box two or three times, and that was just before her number was called to return to her maker.

Glad the problem was caught and now treatment can begin!

 

[maytagbear]

As someone with the human sort.......

Get on a routine with food, exercise, insulin, and play, and stay as close to it as possible, and all should be ok for Girlie.

Ideally, a longer acting insulin, like Lantus (example only) should be just the thing. Shorter term insulins, like Novolog, are better for humans.

Best of luck. I am glad she has such a caring and on-top-of-things human!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[whirlcool]

How is your dogs weight? IF she is overweight, sometimes weight reduction can put some of the symptoms into remission.

 

[pturo]

Thanks everyone! She seems better. My dad has been giving her sugary table scraps for years and biscuits. I read him the riot act.

In just two days she seems much better, shots not a problem,she doesn't even feel them.

Follow up appointment next Wed to "level set"

It has been initally expensive. She is worth it.

Phil

 

[countryguy]

I had a cat also that became diabetic when she was about 8 years old. She was only ever fed cat food. I had to give her an insulin shot twice a day. While she was eating I just came up behind her and gave her the shot - she never winced or skipped a beat. She returned to normal.

Gary

 

[58limited]

After the initial period of getting it under control, diabetic pets can be easily managed and live long lives. As mentioned above, diet and exercise are important. One of the biggest problems in dogs is if the diabetes is not controlled, the dog can develop cataracts overnight - literally. In obese cats, diabetes can completely go away once the cat loses weight. This rarely happens in dogs, but the insulin dose can often be reduced over time.

Hope Girlie continues to respond well!