Pharmacist's Dog Diagnosed With Diabetes, Best Info Site?

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Jean and Charcoal

Jean and Charcoal

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This evening, my pharmacist told me his 13 year old small poodle has been diagnosed with diabetes. He is going back to vet's on Tuesday to start dog on Humulin N insulin. The vet wants him to start with 2 units every 12 hours. The pharmacist thought that sounded too low, but I told him he should start out low, and increase if needed, not the other way around.

Trouble is, he knows nothing about diabetes in dogs (or cats, for that matter) and I told him I would try to see if anyone had a good site they would recommend for info on insulin, diet, and do folks test their dog's blood glucose like we do for our cats?

He has fed the dog only DRY food and table scraps over the years. The dog should weigh about 8 pounds, but weighs over 10 pounds. They have caught it quite early as he and his father noticed the excessive water drinking and peeing over the last 2 weeks.

Only thing makes me sad is, that he put his cat down last year, most likely because she had diabetes, and he said he would not treat diabetes. He just doesn't like cats. I was surprised when he said he is willing to treat his dog for it.

If anyone has any advice, or specific sites for dogs, I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
Jean and Charcoal (GA)
 
There's a Yahoo mailing list here that I found back when I was Googling FD. The search results back there were them, here, and YDC. I did join the Yahoo group ('cause the more sources of info, the better, right?), 'cept it was pretty much all dog-folks there, and they were pretty useless at FD; they were perfectly nice folks and happy to have me around, but I left fairly quickly. While I can't speak to the quality of info available, the list is still there and active six years later, which is a hopeful(?) sign.

They also have a website with info re: CD, but I'm not sure how much faith I'd place in it -- not because I think the info is necessarily wrong, but because it doesn't seem to have been updated in a while, or at least not in any sort of consistent manner. For example, the big 'news' on their insulins page is that NPH is still going to be made; nothing there on Caninsulin or PZI being discontinued. And, while the page claims to have last been updated in 2006, they do have some references to Lantus and Levemir. I also note that their "must have" care kit also includes "proper food prescribed by your veterinarian" *cough* -- I hope the Yahoo mailing list is providing better info ...
 
Hi Jean and Kate,

Thanks so much for your info that you have so kindly provided. I will check on these sites and pass them on to the Pharmacist.

His dog is a toy poodle that is 13 years old named Meesha. I think he is only wanting to treat, because this was his mother's dog. She passed away in 2003 and of course the dog was only about 6 years old at the time. His father is wanting to put the dog to sleep because he feels the dog getting shots will be in a lot of pain. So, with my experience with the cats, I am trying to educate the pharmacist as much as possible.

Thanks so much!
Jean and Charcoal (GA)
 
One thing that will REALLY help the dog, is to change its diet immediately. Evo 95% meat canned, Evo red-meat little bites dry, or a Raw diet will help immensely in lowering blood sugar because they are low in carbs.

~M
 
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