Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Diabetes Update

With Buzz getting so sick last week, his diabetes has been all over the place. The final diagnosis was 'ketotic with mild pancreatitis.' We think the dehydration is really what did him in, but his glucose has been high for far too long, and we were just too lax in getting it controlled better.

So let's back up a minute and talk about the diabetes.

Early December we took him to the diabetes vet for a fructosamine test - which came back high. We began adjusting his insulin levels, and by last week, we had increased both AM and PM doses by 2 units.

When he started vomiting Tuesday morning, we gave him half his normal dose of insulin (when a diabetic dog doesn't eat, the normal protocol is to give that dog 1/2 the amount of their regular insulin dose). Tuesday night came, and he was still vomiting and had diarrhea, so we skipped his insulin - and took him to the vet.

Wednesday morning, his sugar was about 200 (higher than normal, but not too bad), but we took him back to the vet because he was still sick - and they gave him some insulin there, although I'm not sure how much. While the vet was busy trying to figure out what was wrong with Buzz, the vet techs were keeping a close eye on his glucose, which seemed to yo-yo - probably from the meds, lack of food, vomiting, etc.


Wednesday night our normal diabetes vet was busy with other dogs, so a different vet decided to give Buzz 5 units (way more than half of what his normal dose would be) on an empty stomach (still vomiting) - and surprise, he responded very well. His sugar did go a little too low (down to 60), but came back up with no karo syrup needed.


I got a call from our vet Thursday morning that since Buzz responded so well to this high dose of insulin, he wanted to increase Buzz's insulin at home to between 8 and 9 units (since the 5 units took the glucose a little too low, and 5u on an empty stomach is equivalent to 10u on a full stomach) with food and that should (hopefully) help him get regulated again.


Buzz was cleared to come home Thursday evening (!) because he had stopped vomiting and having diarrhea. When my hubby and I arrived to pick him up, you should've seen his face. It was pure love and excitement. I picked him up, and he couldn't stop licking me, thumping his tail, and trying to get me to go to the door (he hates the diabetic vet's office - every time he's there, he's really sick so you can't blame the guy). I was just really happy that he had responded so well, and not only that, but we got some insight on how to better control his diabetes. We never would've increased his insulin that much if it hadn't have been for the other vet giving him so much insulin Wednesday night. It could've been bad - but since he was at the vets all night, they would've had the ability to bring his sugar back to a normal level. But thank goodness that didn't happen.

I'll finish this post another time - I've got to get back to work!

5 comments:

  1. I'm glad Buzz is doing so well. Rocky has his "spells" about every 3-4 months where he stops eating and his bg is between 300-400. Each time we have upped his insulin. Now he is taking 17 units twice a day. I wish we could get his to be consistent under 200.

    Again, glad to hear Buzz is doing so great. Please keep letting us know how he is doing, even when he is doing well.

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    1. Wow - that's a lot of insulin! Just goes to show how different diabetic dogs are. I'm freaking out right now because Buzz is getting 8 units 2x/day and I'm afraid he's going to go low (which he never has, but still). Thanks for the comment, Ila!

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  2. Sorry to hear Buzz was having some difficulties. Hopefully he has recovered and his diabetes is under control now.

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    1. He's recovered for the most part. I think we are always going to have to deal with this. For some reason, his body just likes to attack itself. Poor guy. Good think he's a fighter!

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  3. Hi,im new to all this so any help i can gain would be helpful, Charli had pancreatitis and subsequently has diabetes, in cooking for him hes a fussy eater as it is , hes been doing great on insulin 1 x 4 a day but today he seems sleepier than normal any ideas x

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