Dog diagnosed with diabetes, advice welcome

[jerryaldini]

Got very tough news at the vet today. My just about to turn 7 year old Visla diagnosed with diabetes, 600 glucose level. She'd suddenly dropped over 10 pounds.

I got the insulin and syringes and will give her the first injection tonight with her food. Will go back next week to spend a day measuring her glucose curve.

Of course when I got home I immediately started researching online, and was surprised to learn, if she survived that long, there's a 75 percent chance she'll be blind with cataracts within 9 months, could form overnight. I've lived with a blind dog, they do well, still wasn't expecting the additional gut punch. Vet didn't mention.

There's a wide range of life expectancy information. I'm all about quality of life, so I'll start preparing myself.

If anyone here has experience please share. Please don't hold
back the hard truths. I want to make the most informed decisions I can for her.

Since I've always been fortunate to work from home, we've been almost inseparable. Goes everywhere with me. Replaced both her ACLs so we could keep doing our hikes. Damn I love this dog. Please no diabetes jokes.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Stewie

This is becoming an issue more and more.


I spoke with my veterinarian and she said feeding habits contribute to a lot of problems.


Don't feed dogs "people" food. Aside from well known toxic foods like chocolate, there are 30+ toxic foods that dogs should not be fed. Google them.


Do NOT make your own dog food. While this may sound like a good idea, dogs are susceptible to too little or too much protein. There's a reason that dog's eating the family cat's food will cause organ damage. Cats need more protein and dogs can't handle that. Kidney damage is the result.


Find a good quality dog food and stick to the recommended feeding routine. If you want to give them a treat give them a beef bone. They'll love that more than any store bought "treat".

I will have to disagree with this slightly in regards to make your own food. Our dog got pancreatitis so we took him to Blue Pearl in OP and they also had to take out his gallbladder.

They referred us to a animal\dog nutritionist from Rutgers who came up with a diet plan for him which was all home made food with vitamin supplements. If you ever actually read what is in dog food there is a ton of wheat flour or corn meal which is not good for dogs especially ones that are diabetic.

[smith11]

Originally Posted by jerryaldini

Got very tough news at the vet today. My just about to turn 7 year old Visla diagnosed with diabetes, 600 glucose level. She'd suddenly dropped over 10 pounds.

I got the insulin and syringes and will give her the first injection tonight with her food. Will go back next week to spend a day measuring her glucose curve.

Of course when I got home I immediately started researching online, and was surprised to learn, if she survived that long, there's a 75 percent chance she'll be blind with cataracts within 9 months, could form overnight. I've lived with a blind dog, they do well, still wasn't expecting the additional gut punch. Vet didn't mention.

There's a wide range of life expectancy information. I'm all about quality of life, so I'll start preparing myself.

If anyone here has experience please share. Please don't hold
back the hard truths. I want to make the most informed decisions I can for her.

Since I've always been fortunate to work from home, we've been almost inseparable. Goes everywhere with me. Replaced both her ACLs so we could keep doing our hikes. Damn I love this dog. Please no diabetes jokes.

Vizslas are great dogs i had three,,,right now Ive got an 11 year old english springer spaniel who is set for surgery Thursday because she tore her ACL I didnt even know dogs could do that

[chefsos]

We got the same news a few months ago, and I dreaded how our lives were going to change: constant care for the dog, $$, the unknown, etc.

It hasn't been that bad. Sure, a lot of money initially, but with the shots and a decent diet, she's back to the way she was: playful, ornery, active. And she's 11 years old. It just becomes one of those things you deal with if you love them. It'll be OK.

[Pinchshot]

OMG! Even dogs are getting diabetes now?! Really? What are you feeding him? And how often does he get a walk?

Crazy.

[jerryaldini]

Originally Posted by smith11

Vizslas are great dogs i had three,,,right now Ive got an 11 year old english springer spaniel who is set for surgery Thursday because she tore her ACL I didnt even know dogs could do that

Mine has done both of hers. Sorry to hear, expensive.

[jerryaldini]

If any of you guys could chime in on whether you were able to keep your dogs on non-prescribed pet food, or if you used vet prescribed that would really help. The food is the bog cost. Thanks!

[kepp]

I watched my parents spend thousands of dollars for "chemo" on their dog just to have it die a couple months after. Most recently, another of their dogs was limping so I help take it into the vet. "It's an ACL tear, I'm afraid. But we can take care of that for $3800, no problem." And the pressure and guilt they laid on my Dad, a senior on a fixed income, to get that done was unconscionable. I was there to ask one simple question: Will the dog recover without surgery? "Oh, yes...but, but...it may have a slight limp."

Animal medicine is following the human medical industry now. You would do well to research a bit of this.