Dog Diagnosed with Diabetes HELP!

[maciec]

Our dog just got diagnosed with diabetes. Her blood sugar was 307 and the standard is 70-138! She hasn't gone into the vet yet to have her stay to get stabilized, but will probably tomorrow. Anyway, I know that she will be on insulin, require shots, and that I will need a home monitoring kit.

Where do I get the best deals on all of this stuff? I think that so far Drs. Foster & Smith have the best deal on the insulin, but what about the needles and monitoring kit?

Also, if you have any advice or tips, I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh and we don't have to switch her food because what we give her is fine according to the vet.

 

[mrsv98]

Our dog just got diagnosed with diabetes. Her blood sugar was 307 and the standard is 70-138! She hasn't gone into the vet yet to have her stay to get stabilized, but will probably tomorrow. Anyway, I know that she will be on insulin, require shots, and that I will need a home monitoring kit.

Where do I get the best deals on all of this stuff? I think that so far Drs. Foster & Smith have the best deal on the insulin, but what about the needles and monitoring kit?

Also, if you have any advice or tips, I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh and we don't have to switch her food because what we give her is fine according to the vet.

Our first lab developed diabetes but it is not the end of the world. We got her insulin at Walgreens or Walmart and the needles came in a big box and were pretty cheap. We did not do home monitoring, our vet said it was too hard, so we would take her in once a week for a while and they would do a quick check. This went on until she stabilized and then it was less frequent.

Try and keep her food and shots at regular intervals. Remember that thirst is an indicator that her glucose is out of whack so keep an eye on how much she drinks and also her appetite.

It will be ok, many dogs live long happy lives with diabetes.

 

[maciec]

Our first lab developed diabetes but it is not the end of the world. We got her insulin at Walgreens or Walmart and the needles came in a big box and were pretty cheap. We did not do home monitoring, our vet said it was too hard, so we would take her in once a week for a while and they would do a quick check. This went on until she stabilized and then it was less frequent.

Try and keep her food and shots at regular intervals. Remember that thirst is an indicator that her glucose is out of whack so keep an eye on how much she drinks and also her appetite.

It will be ok, many dogs live long happy lives with diabetes.

What kind of price did you get from Walmart? I didn't know we could get pet meds from there. Also, was it for Humulin?

 

[mrsv98]

What kind of price did you get from Walmart? I didn't know we could get pet meds from there. Also, was it for Humulin?

It has been several years but I remember the Walmart price was pretty good. I think it was a generic and I also would get a box of something like 100 needles. It was very easy to give her the shot, especially since she was a big dog with a BIG neck. All you have to do is pinch the back of her neck between two fingers so you have a fold of skin sticking up and then give her the shot there. The needles are tiny. I would usually give it to her while she was eating and most of the time she didn't even notice. I would try and move it around so I wasn't sticking the same place all the time.

Make sure you keep good records of how much insulin you give her and what times. I made a spreadsheet that I taped to the inside cabinet. When I gave her a shot I would just write in the amount and time. That way, I could give the vet an accurate accounting of how much she had.

 

[christiane]

Melissa, sorry to read about your dog's diagnosis. It will all seem very overwhelming at first, but once you & your dog get your routine going, hopefully you will feel better about everything.

What is your dog's breed & age? What symptoms did she have?

Did your vet run a urine sample? To diagnose diabetes you need to show both high blood sugar & high urine sugar. It is also important to run a urine culture to check for infection as most dogs have an infection due to the large amount of sugar in their urine

It is important to know that dogs always have type-1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. People may talk to you about their cats & how they didn't need insulin, but cats usually have type-2 (due to obesity) and are treated very differently than dogs.

Dogs must be regulated much more quickly than cats because of the high risk of cataracts which will cause blindness.

About the costs, I would just be very open & honest with your vet that this is a concern. You can check prices online but ask your vet if they will match prices.

I wouldn't order insulin online. It is quite inexpensive. It is also a very fragile medication and has specific storage requirements. You could end up with insulin that is damaged & this will mess up your dog's response and could even be life-threatening.

The syringes end up costing more than the insulin in the long-run. Be very careful when buying syringes because there are different types of insulin and the syringes must be specificially matched. Using the wrong syringes could over or under dose your dog. Do not be tempted to reuse syringes. The needles get very dull going through the bottle stopper, then through the skin.
Again, ask your vet about price-matching.

Home-blood glucose monitoring is very important. I have attached a couple of links to help you.

I know it's a lot to read through right now but soon it will be second nature!

Hopefully you have an excellent & knowledgeable veterinarian who will help you through your girl's treatment. Good Luck!

Veterinary Partner: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=631

Vetsulin: http://www.vetsulin.com/

Alpha Trak Bld Glucose monitoring: http://www.abbott.com/content/en_US/20.10.230:230/product/Product_Master_0229.htm

 

[Muushka]

There is a stability problem with Vetsulin, just in case your pup gets that Rx.

Humulin is $24 (or there abouts) for a 10 cc vial. The needles cost about $13 for 100.
If you do decide to go with Vetsulin, be careful buying the needles from a regular pharmacy and not the vet. The Vetsulin uses 40 units/cc (and cost about $30 for 100) and the ones at the regular pharmacy are 100 units/cc. Bottom line, you can use the cheaper needles from the pharm, but calculations do have to be made. The 100 units needles take 2.5 more of the drug than the 40 unit needles. PM me if this is not clear (confusing!).

I switched my cat from Vetsulin and saved a bundle.

Walmart has a great deal on the blood sugar machines. It is their own brand (Reli-On). The machine itself is not a bad price but where you save is on the strips. Very inexpensive.

Also, be aware of what low blood sugar in a dog looks like. My cat has had a few episodes, not fun, but once you understand what is going on it is not too bad. Good luck!

 

[maciec]

Melissa, sorry to read about your dog's diagnosis. It will all seem very overwhelming at first, but once you & your dog get your routine going, hopefully you will feel better about everything.

What is your dog's breed & age? What symptoms did she have? Samoyed age 6.5 .....excessive drinking & urinating

Did your vet run a urine sample? YES To diagnose diabetes you need to show both high blood sugar & high urine sugar. It is also important to run a urine culture to check for infection as most dogs have an infection due to the large amount of sugar in their urine

It is important to know that dogs always have type-1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. People may talk to you about their cats & how they didn't need insulin, but cats usually have type-2 (due to obesity) and are treated very differently than dogs.

Dogs must be regulated much more quickly than cats because of the high risk of cataracts which will cause blindness. She is already blind due to a severe case of dry eye

About the costs, I would just be very open & honest with your vet that this is a concern. You can check prices online but ask your vet if they will match prices. He will. His price for the insulin is $84 for a months supply of Humulin. The vet said that he will not use Vetsulin because of the problems with it.

I wouldn't order insulin online. It is quite inexpensive. It is also a very fragile medication and has specific storage requirements. You could end up with insulin that is damaged & this will mess up your dog's response and could even be life-threatening.

The syringes end up costing more than the insulin in the long-run. Be very careful when buying syringes because there are different types of insulin and the syringes must be specificially matched. Using the wrong syringes could over or under dose your dog. Do not be tempted to reuse syringes. The needles get very dull going through the bottle stopper, then through the skin.
Again, ask your vet about price-matching.

Home-blood glucose monitoring is very important. I have attached a couple of links to help you. Thank you!

I know it's a lot to read through right now but soon it will be second nature!

Hopefully you have an excellent & knowledgeable veterinarian who will help you through your girl's treatment. Good Luck!

Veterinary Partner: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=631

Vetsulin: http://www.vetsulin.com/

Alpha Trak Bld Glucose monitoring: http://www.abbott.com/content/en_US/20.10.230:230/product/Product_Master_0229.htm

There is a stability problem with Vetsulin, just in case your pup gets that Rx.

Humulin is $24 (or there abouts) for a 10 cc vial. The needles cost about $13 for 100. WOW! The vet quoted me $20-$30!
If you do decide to go with Vetsulin, be careful buying the needles from a regular pharmacy and not the vet. The Vetsulin uses 40 units/cc (and cost about $30 for 100) and the ones at the regular pharmacy are 100 units/cc. Bottom line, you can use the cheaper needles from the pharm, but calculations do have to be made. The 100 units needles take 2.5 more of the drug than the 40 unit needles. PM me if this is not clear (confusing!).

I switched my cat from Vetsulin and saved a bundle.

Walmart has a great deal on the blood sugar machines. It is their own brand (Reli-On). The machine itself is not a bad price but where you save is on the strips. Very inexpensive. GREAT!

Also, be aware of what low blood sugar in a dog looks like. She has high blood sugar
My cat has had a few episodes, not fun, but once you understand what is going on it is not too bad. Good luck!

I am sure that I will get an education once she gets stabilized, but I wanted to have a little bit of information before speaking with the vet about everything. Looks like I have a lot of reading to do! Thanks everyone for your help. I am a little overwhelmed rght now.

 

[saradela]

I had a diabetic dog 3 years ago. It lived 5 years with diabetes. 2 shots daily. I remembered that it was difficult sometimes (when she needed more insulin ), to clean the floor if she pee, the only thing that worked was grease removal liquid for kitchens. She died at age 17. She died from cancer. We loved "muñeca" dearly. Stange thing, I was diagnose with diabetes, 40 days ago. One day before the doctor told me I had diabetes, I had a dream, where she came, and told me that everything was going to be ok . I remembered thinking why did I had to dream about her. She was telling me about diabetes, she was my angel......

 

[Muushka]

Also, be aware of what low blood sugar in a dog looks like.

She has high blood sugar

Yup, I know your pup has high blood sugar, now. But once you start the insulin, there are times when the sugar can get low (too much insulin, too much exercise, not enough food.....). It is quite scary and if you know the signs you can avoid it or at least lessen the shock. Remember Steel Magnolias? Ugh.

To diagnose diabetes you need to show both high blood sugar & high urine sugar.

As a lab person, I have a little trouble with this statement. The amount of sugar in your blood is a much truer picture of what is going on. The bladder and what it holds has so many variables. How much was drunk, last time voided etc. Back in the day when glucometers didn't exist, the sugar in the urine was the only way a patient could test at home. When they ran glucose tolerance tests they always did a urine with it to get a picture of how the patient metabolized glucose. Many glucose tolerance tests do not even include testing the urine any more.

I can see if a doc truly thought diabetes was the culprit and tested the blood and the sugar was normal, they might do a back up with urine to see if there was sugar there. But if the blood sugar is high, other than looking for infection I don't agree that a diabetes diagnosis must have both urine and blood tested.

There is a good explanation here:
http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/glucose/test.html

that site also has a description of symptoms of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).

 

[christiane]

As a lab person, I have a little trouble with this statement.

Stress hyperglycemia is very common in veterinary patients. We would never treat a veterinary patient for DM based on isolated hyperglycemia. It would be considered malpractice.

Testing the urine for ketones is also standard practice, so a urine sample is always recommended. Bed-side serum ketone testing is now available, but most veterinarians do not have access to it, so urine testing is the most practical. In addition, as I previously mentioned, most dogs have a UTI at the time of diagnosis. An untreated infection is a common cause of difficulty in DM regulation, so it must be identified & treated.

While human & non-human patients share a great deal of biochemistry/physiology, it can't always be assumed that laboratory testing is the same. For example, the renal threshold for glucose varies amongst species.

I also wanted to mention that I provided the Vetsulin link because it has good information on DM in general, how to to give injections etc. This product is going off-market in the US. I assumed the OP's veterinarian would recommend the insulin appropriate for the OP's dog.

 

[Muushka]

Stress hyperglycemia is very common in veterinary patients. We would never treat a veterinary patient for DM based on isolated hyperglycemia. It would be considered malpractice.

While human & non-human patients share a great deal of biochemistry/physiology, it can't always be assumed that laboratory testing is the same. For example, the renal threshold for glucose varies amongst species.

I also wanted to mention that I provided the Vetsulin link because it has good information on DM in general, how to to give injections etc. This product is going off-market in the US. I assumed the OP's veterinarian would recommend the insulin appropriate for the OP's dog.

You are absolutely correct! Being a 'human' medical technologist, I forgot about that stress factor that pets have.
As I am in my chair, I sit corrected.

As far as the Vetsulin, a friend of mine here on the DIS had her newly diagnosed diabetic cat prescribed Vetsulin. I mentioned the problem with the drug and evidently her vet had not heard about the problem. He immediately took the cat off the Vetsulin.

 

[helpishere]

Have you tried Aloe Vera drink. There has been a lot of cases where Aloe has been proven to help get people free of diabetis. It is safe for animals to drink in reduced amounts. This is all natural solution.

 

[hiwaygal]

You've gotten a lot of good advice, I can only suggest that you try to stay calm and realize it sounds so much worse than it really is. Diabetes is serious but the treatment is not so bad.

My dog Sally was diagnosed with diabetes about 2 years ago. She also had hypothyroidism and was about 10 years old when diagnosed. She responded really well to the treatment but, sadly she did die from complications this past August.

Our male, Buddy, was just diagnosed with diabetes earlier this week. So we are starting the whole thing over again.

Buddy is about the same age Sally was when she was diagnosed.

From my experience they are pretty sick when first diagnosed and I'm especially hypersensitive about it right now. But, once they get stabilized it's better.

Diabetic dogs are prone to UTI's so keep an eye on that.

You will do fine!!