Our dog just diagnosed with Diabetes - Help please!

[Dollychris]

Our 7 yr old dog has just been diagnosed with diabetes and we would appreciate any advice please. The cost is hard to determine but whatever we will treat our boy for the rest of his life. Out vet is helpful but a bit vague on costs but we appreciate that there is a lot of blood testing etc to get the right insulin dosage right. Any help would be greatly received as this has come as a huge shock to us.
Thank you!

[bushcombe]

I can sympathize with your shock thats exactly how i felt when our Border Collie was diagnosed.I never thought i could cope with injections and urine samples, but its amazing how quickly both us and our dog got used to everything. Hopefully it wont take you long to find the right dose, and once your dog feels better you'll get into a routine. Good luck let us all know how you get on

[Dollychris]

Thank you so much for your answer and support bushcombe - it is good to know that others have coped and the dog has got better. My husband gave the first injection this morning and I gave it tonight. Was definitely a bit nervous but went fine and I think I was more of a wreck than the dog - bless him. Am looking into costings on the internet to purchase the caninsulin and syringes as cost is spiralling and insurance are refusing to pay at the moment. It appears to be more cost effective to buy using a private prescription which I understand the vet must issue. Will be glad when he has had a scan on Tuesday to rule out Pancreas tumour and then we can settle into our routein knowing nothing else has caused him to lose so much weight so quickly. He was at Crufts in March as was fine! Thanks again and if you can think of anything else we should be doing please let us know. Hope your Border Collie is well and do you mind me asking how long it took to get the doseage correct? Bless you for your prompt answer - we were panicking a little and feel a bit more relieved now. Sending a big hug For your Border Collie.x

[bushcombe]

Will be thinking of you on tuesday, do let us know. I think it only took about a week to sort doseage out,unfortunately our dog has epileptic fits as well (no conection just very unlucky!!) lives perfectly normal life.What reason are the insurance giving for refusing to pay, thought this type of thing was why we get them insured. Now you've given him his first injection it can only get easier, be grateful you've got a male dog have you ever tried getting a pee sample from a girl dog. What breed is he ?..

[lankeela]

I have looked after several dogs that were diabetic and had to have daily injections, and all of them have coped admirably with them. They seem to know when its time, and almost come to remind you to do it. Three were Samoyeds, (two who lived together and one totally unrelated dog) and they had their jabs and waited for a biscuit as a reward for being good. Should you ever go away and need to kennel your lad make sure you start looking early for a kennel which can cope with giving the injections. It is a lot to ask family or friends to do should you usually leave him with them.

[Dollychris]

Thanks again bushcombe and Lankeela. Fortunately we have my sister who is diabetic and would be willing to cover any times we are away or we wouldn't consider leaving him. One problem I haven't mentioned is that the vet says he is nearly blind which is why we have agreed to him having the scan on Tuesday. Are we being kind or selfish as someone pointed out today (a relative who is doggie mad and has dogs of her own) that we are possibly thinking of ourselves - not him. Part of me feels this is true and the injections are not proving a problem at all for him or us but it would be so hard to let go of our beloved boy. Do either of you have any thoughts - please be honest with us - we would appreciate it. He is eye tested regularly and has clear eye certificates - the last one being March this year before he was happily trotting around the ring at Crufts so you can see how quickly this has come on him. He lost weight rapidly over the last month and started peeing a lot and it is just so unbelievable how fast this has come on us. We would welcome your comments and thoughts if you don't mind. We lost our other dog during Christmas week and she was aged 13 so thought that he would be the same - silly really to think so I suppose. Our sincere thanks once again.

[blackcat77]

With regard to the person asking if you are doing it for yourself or the dog - only you can answer that, and it would only seem sensible to decide that after you have had him on his new regime for a while; nobody can tell better how your dog is feeling than it's owner and as you sound a thoroughly sensible pet owner I'm sure that you will come to the right decision yourselves. Just give him time to settle down and then see how he is. I agree with the other posters, diabetes can be controlled well in dogs, I used to look after a labrador who was 10 and had been diabetic for some years and you would really never know anything was wrong with him. Best of luck with your dog.

[Dollychris]

Thank you Blackcat - you are of course right and only we can decide what to do. All of a sudden our healthy dog has diabetes, is blind and according to our vet has a heart murmur but that doesn't seem to be a big problem and has hardly been mentioned since we were told on Thursday. We are so confused and want to do the best for our boy - he has been such a source of joy and wickedness. We also have a 2 yr old and they are inseperable but due to recent events he isn't bothered with her which is of course understandable as he isn't well. We do ask how on earth we didn't realise how ill he was and how didn't we know he was going blind? So many questions and not enough definitive answers. I think we should have another word with our vet and ask his opinion as we were not happy with the other vet who suggested we let nature take its' course and let him die. Thank you for your comments which we really appreciate. Having been lucky and never having had to face something like this before, we really are lost. The positive advice has helped a lot. Take care x

[bushcombe]

Hi Dollychris only just come one been busy all day.I second all Blackcat has said. All of this has happened so suddenly and is such a shock to you it's very hard to make decisions all you can do is be guided by a vet you trust.As Blackcat says youknow your dog better than anyone,You will have a much clearer idea of your situation after the tests on tuesday and maybe by then he will have been haveing the insulin for a few days and may be on a much more even keel.Give him a hug from me

[lankeela]

Many owners will not realise their dogs are going blind, as the gradual process means they get used to their condition and can find their way around using their other senses. Its only if the blindness is a sudden onset that it can be very traumatic. I would take a 'wait and see' approach, see how the insulin helps him, and if he is well in himself. Only then can you make an informed decision, and if his quality of life is not as good as you would want for him, you will know what you have to do. Its a difficult time, but you will know when the time has come, and as I always say, better a day too soon than a moment too late.

[Dollychris]

It is with great sadness that we said goodbye to our wonderful boy on Monday. We are devastated and cannot believe our darling boy is gone. He became very ill on Monday and our vet tried his best but advised us to let our poor boy go peacefully. We are just so shocked that a dog could fail so quickly and the tears just have not stopped. We lost our 13 yr old girl at Christmas and to come to terms with losing a healthy dog who was just off his 7th birthday is so very hard. The house is quiet and ur 2 and half year old is lost and pining for her partner. We would like to thank you all for your wonderful support and advice and will never regret trying to save our lad. We would have no hesitation in treating a dog of ours with diabetes - sadly we failed this time but are assured that our boy was just too ill and the disease took hold of him so very quickly.
Thank you everybody. Our boy is missed by so many and the tributes to him have been wonderful. He was a UK Champion but most of all he was our darling pet and leaves a huge void in our lives. If love could have kept him alive he would have lived forever.
Bless you all.
xx

[bushcombe]

Hi Dollychris I was so sad to read your post. You did your absolute best for him and could have done no more.You have had such a traumatic week, when you are feeling less raw you've got seven years of happy memories to look back on. Thinking of you X

[lankeela]

Such sad news, thinking of you.

[Dollychris]

Your kind words are most welcome as when something like this happens you can't help but wonder if there was something more you could do and would it have made the outcome different. We have one youngster left (thank goodness) and she is lovely but missed our boy so much and is still searching for him and is off her food. She's getting loads of fuss and cuddles and that helps us too. Poor thing must be wondering what has happened with us losing our 13 yr old and our 7 year old within the space of just 9 months.
We have had lots of support and wonderful tributes for our boy and it will be a long time before we can think of him without tears coming. It is the worse loss we have suffered as he was young and this was so unnexpected.
Thank you so much for your help and advice Bushcombe, Lankeela and backcat77 - you won't realise how much it meant. In closing if any of you know of any person with a dog with diabetes we have 2 and a half packs of sterile syringes and an almost full bottle of caninsulin which we are happy to pass on to anybody who is treating using the same medication. Just let us know and will send.
Bye for now and bless you all.
Chris
xx