Diabetes

[Malty]

Did anyone find their diabetic dog was more hungry than usual please? Rosie, my little dog, is fussing for food about 6 hours after she has had her breakfast. This did not happen before she developed Diabetes. Any advice please. Thank you. :)

[Pattycake]

I know insulin in humans causes an increase in appetite My daughter is diabetic, since age 11) so it may well do so in dogs too. I hope everything is going ok.

[perrin]

Did anyone find their diabetic dog was more hungry than usual please? Rosie, my little dog, is fussing for food about 6 hours after she has had her breakfast. This did not happen before she developed Diabetes. Any advice please. Thank you. :)

Did Rosie lose a lot of weight when she first became sick?

It may be that Rosie isn't quite regulated yet. In my experience it took awhile to get dosages and feeding right before everything settled down and Perrin lost a lot of weight right at the start so it seemed like he was always hungry. Especially with his levels seesawing all over the place.

But once we were on top of everything his weight has maintained itself for the last 3 and a half years or so. I think it took maybe 10 weeks to get it perfect. He was difficult. :laugh:

Edited July 22, 2014 by perrin

[Pretty Miss Emma]

Did anyone find their diabetic dog was more hungry than usual please? Rosie, my little dog, is fussing for food about 6 hours after she has had her breakfast. This did not happen before she developed Diabetes. Any advice please. Thank you. :)

Did Rosie lose a lot of weight when she first became sick?

It may be that Rosie isn't quite regulated yet. In my experience it took awhile to get dosages and feeding right before everything settled down and Perrin lost a lot of weight right at the start so it seemed like he was always hungry. Especially with his levels seesawing all over the place.

But once we were on top of everything his weight has maintained itself for the last 3 and a half years or so. I think it took maybe 10 weeks to get it perfect. He was difficult. :laugh:

Agree with all of this!

But look in to what you can add in to the food that is calorie free that will fill her up a bit more. I think I used brown rice (it wasn't digested by the time it came out so there were negligable calories. Carrot. Psyllium husk (it's just fibre), bran. Things like that which won't increase the blookd sugar level but will make her tummy a bit more full for longer! I'm pretty sure I asked about this and there may be a thread that i started about foods that could be added in. I'll see if I can find it for you.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

A couple of suggestions in here from when I wanted her to gain weight but not mess with her blood sugar. They might be helpful.

[Dave-o]

I was reading up on diabetes the other day and it seems it has increased by 300% over the last 30 years - http://www.petfoodratings.org/nutrition/diabetes-and-pet-food/

There has to be a reason for that, and it might coincide with the quality (or lack of) with dry foods? The link above lists a number of ingredients that can cause diabetes, with brewers rice being the most commonly found culprit (most supermarket brands have brewers rice as a dirty cheap filler).

[raineth]

I was reading up on diabetes the other day and it seems it has increased by 300% over the last 30 years - http://www.petfoodratings.org/nutrition/diabetes-and-pet-food/

There has to be a reason for that, and it might coincide with the quality (or lack of) with dry foods? The link above lists a number of ingredients that can cause diabetes, with brewers rice being the most commonly found culprit (most supermarket brands have brewers rice as a dirty cheap filler).

I don't think you can say a single ingredient causes diabetes, that's a bit simplistic.

Also that link mentions diabetes in young dogs which could very well relate more to the auto-immune version of diabetes... and therefore really have nothing to do with rice.

Edited August 21, 2014 by raineth

[boogiebroad]

Hello, my Finny Foo has been diagnosed last week. I was doing ok with injections until I accidently went through both skins and missed this morning. I noticed people on discussion boards in USA use human needles ie 8mm with 31 gauge (Priceline stock them).

I would like to swap over to this instead of what he is using currently on:

26gauge, 13mm needle. Caninsulin. He is on 0.25ml twice a day.

I just want him on a finer and shorter needle. He has fine fur (westie cross small poodle). He has lost a lot of weight and not much skin to grab.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

Chat with your vet about it. I used human syringes with my dog, the biggest difference being that the unit of measurement on the side was different so you had to know the conversion (not hard to do, particularly if they are stable and on the same dose all the time). And if you order them online (if you can) you will find that you save heaps.

If he's only just ben diagnosed you might prefer to wait to make sure that he has stabilised, just so you don't have to play around with conversions all the time while stabilising.

I found also that when injecting insulin you sort of need to inject in line with the crest of the pulled up skin not across it - that can help ensure that you don't go through.

[westiemum]

Just recently I had my experience with dog-sitting a diabetic dog for the evening and had to do the 8.30 pm injection.  Had not come across a diabetic dog before that evening.  While I was a bit daunted at first it was actually pretty easy - even for this first timer!

 

Dogsfevr

 

Quote

We board alot of diabetic dogs these days,its becoming more & more common sadly .

Why is that?  And why are dogs getting fatter?

 

After a lifetime of weight misery,  I believe I've avoided pre-diabetes and diabetes through an easy but significant diet change to LCHF/keto - and certainly the  science supports my view.  Which got me thinking  - are there any similar studies in dogs about the development of diabetes and diet that anyone knows of?  I haven't seen any,  and while I know dogs are different, it would be very interesting and useful to know if there is any connection between diet and diabetes.

[SchnauzerMax]

My understanding of diabetes in dogs is that a large proportion are type 1 diabetics I.e. autoimmune induced rather than diet. 

My Max is diabetic - type 1.

[Kazm]

16 hours ago, westiemum said:

 

Just recently I had my experience with dog-sitting a diabetic dog for the evening and had to do the 8.30 pm injection.  Had not come across a diabetic dog before that evening.  While I was a bit daunted at first it was actually pretty easy - even for this first timer!

 

I just recently had my first experience dog sitting a diabetic dog too. I had him for a full week. A week  of morning and evening injections. It certainly is very daunting. Pretty easy as you say but secretly I was happy to see him go home. I hated dealing with it. Totally out of my comfort zone. He is type 2 bought on by bad diet. I feel sorry for the poor dog and his family too but they have learnt a valuable lesson.

 

Schnauzer Max - I don’t know much about diabetes in dogs and didn’t even realise they can get type 1. Must be hard for you.

[SchnauzerMax]

10 hours ago, Zena's mum said:

I just recently had my first experience dog sitting a diabetic dog too. I had him for a full week. A week  of morning and evening injections. It certainly is very daunting. Pretty easy as you say but secretly I was happy to see him go home. I hated dealing with it. Totally out of my comfort zone. He is type 2 bought on by bad diet. I feel sorry for the poor dog and his family too but they have learnt a valuable lesson.

 

Schnauzer Max - I don’t know much about diabetes in dogs and didn’t even realise they can get type 1. Must be hard for you.

Zena’s Mum,

yes it is hard. We thought he had more bladder stones but it turned out to be diabetes. 

Diabetes complicates any other disease or illness. 

He was diagnosed in April and it still isn’t under control. He developed pancreatitis a month ago and that in conjunction with diabetes is life threateningly scary. A diabetic dog that won’t eat ends up in intensive care in hospital on a drip with glucose in one port and insulin in the other. 

[Kazm]

42 minutes ago, SchnauzerMax said:

Zena’s Mum,

yes it is hard. We thought he had more bladder stones but it turned out to be diabetes. 

Diabetes complicates any other disease or illness. 

He was diagnosed in April and it still isn’t under control. He developed pancreatitis a month ago and that in conjunction with diabetes is life threateningly scary. A diabetic dog that won’t eat ends up in intensive care in hospital on a drip with glucose in one port and insulin in the other. 

Wow. That’s difficult. I had no idea really. How old is your fur friend? Is he not interested in food? The dog I was looking after was hungry all the time. Really hungry. I found that difficult as he was only allowed his two meals a day. All measured and just vet prescribed biscuits as he doesn’t digest the raw food. It’s such a difficult life. 

Sorry to hear that you are going through a bad situation.

[SchnauzerMax]

2 hours ago, Zena's mum said:

Wow. That’s difficult. I had no idea really. How old is your fur friend? Is he not interested in food? The dog I was looking after was hungry all the time. Really hungry. I found that difficult as he was only allowed his two meals a day. All measured and just vet prescribed biscuits as he doesn’t digest the raw food. It’s such a difficult life. 

Sorry to hear that you are going through a bad situation.

Max is 7.5 years old. The total lack of appetite was due to the pancreatitis, but he is a fussy eater. He refuses to eat Hills Prescription Diet which is what the vet wants him to eat. It smells disgusting to me, so I can’t blame him. We have discovered he loves kangaroo so fingers crossed...

 

Winston Churchill was quoted as saying “when going through hell, keep going”.

So true.

[Kazm]

I agree the Hills Prescription Diet does smell bad. I can’t blame him for not wanting to eat it. Poor guy. He is the same age as my Molly. I certainly hope that you can get him sorted and that things can improve for you.