Diabetic Dog

About a year ago I took my then 10 year old dog Meisha in for her annual check up.  She had lost a bit of weight which I though was good since last year the vet had said she needed to lose a few pounds.   He questioned me on the weight loss and I told him we were being more careful with table scraps and working on getting her more exercise.

We discussed Meisha's health and any changes I might have seen.  With the exception of a fatty growth on her side that the vet said was no big deal I told him everything was good.  He did request to do some blood work since she was getting older.  I really didn't see the need but I agreed to it anyway.

Imagine my surprise when the blood work came back and showed that my dog was now diabetic.  I immediately got concerned but the vet reassured me that she was still very healthy and we had caught it in time.  She had not yet exhibited any of the signs of diabetes such as frequent urination, drinking more water than normal, and it hadn't affected her internal organs. I felt much better about that and was thankful that we had done the testing.

When our vet started talking about the treatment of canine diabetes I got real apprehensive.  He informed me that she would have to have insulin shots twice a day and it was important that they were as near to 12 hours apart as possible.  He educated me that pills do not work effectively and Meisha would have to have the injections.

I questioned him more on this and was relieved to learn that I would not have to test her blood sugar myself but that he would take care of the regulation of that.  He would keep her for 24 hours to get her monitored and then I would bring her back in a month to check on it and then every 6 months after that unless there were problems. We talked about the cost of the insulin and figured it would run about 30 dollars or so a month. (Which proved to be a close estimate).

I then left her at the vet so he could get her insulin regulated, he told me when I picked her up he would give me lessons on giving her the shots.  I was very nervous about giving them to her, I wasn't sure if it was something I would be able to do or not.  I can now say a year later it is no big deal, but it does take a solid commitment to her health. Before if I was just going to be gone overnight I could leave her in the fenced back yard with the neighbors keeping an eye on her, but now she needs to be boarded every time.

But the biggest hurdle that both she and I had to overcome was the twice daily shots.  She didn't like getting them and I didn't like giving them.  I found myself dreading the evening shot hours before I actually needed to give them to her.  I knew something needed to be done to make it easier so I started buying some canned dog food and at shot time I would mix a little in with her regular food.  When she had her head down eating that was when I would quickly give her the shot.  This system worked so much better for both of us. Rarely did she yip because I had hurt her.  I think now she almost looks forward to her shots because she gets to have some yummy food.

Occasionally she will rebel a bit and although she really wants her food she moves around so it is not easy to give her a shot.  This is usually not a problem anymore but occasionally she will move wrong when I am giving it to her and then it hurts her a bit.  Then she really squirms around the next time so it can be a battle for both of us.  What I do now when this happens is I switch from the canned food to something a little bit tastier such as actual table scraps the next time or two that I give her a shot.  This helps because then she "forgets" that sometimes it hurts a little.

It has been over a year and Meisha has not had any additional health problems.  You would not only never know that she is diabetic, but that she is 11 years old.  She is still extremely active and loves to play.