Managing owners of a diabetic pet

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 16:45:36 GMT

I agree... I would just start to slowly increase the dose.....no more than one increase per week though.

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Robin Grimmer — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 12:57:43 GMT

I doubt there's overswing in this case. Glucose levels are too high, there's no drop and rebound. Plus the dog is losing weight and has cataracts, all signs of poor control. 13 units is not that much for an old English.

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 12:46:44 GMT

Or there's an overswing - but I'd second the idea of doing a glucose curve yourself - if you can. Sometimes one feels that owners were put on the planet to make life difficult for veterinary surgeons!

Wynne

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Robin Grimmer — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 12:38:27 GMT

I would also admit the dog fir a glucose curve and give the insulin yourself. I wouldn't get too fixated on the small meal. What is obvious from your data is that the dog is poorly controlled and is probably going to need a higher dose of insulin.

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Clive Ansell — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:54:34 GMT

I find most owner unreliable and incapable and would advise them that the dogs needs admission for a glucose curve at the practice after stopping the extra meals and just feeding and injecting insulin twice daily.

I had one towards the end of last year where glucose curves showing no or poor response to insulin. the owner was injecting insulin and feeding at 0700 and bringing in for the curve at 0900. When I requested that we feed and give insulin, we found we were overdosing. When I spoke to the owner and watched her inject she was drawing up and injecting mainly air! Would make a great Specsavers advert.

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Anthony Dennison — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:12:12 GMT

No.

Just been told they give a small meal at 4pm as they feel 12 hours is too long a gap between feeds when she has been fed three times a day all her life. We're going to reduce it to a rawhide chew - that should help.

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:03:27 GMT

As Gillian said, you can only do the best that the owners will allow you to do - and, sometimes, the owners are the animal's worst enemy. Sometimes owners who love the animal too much can be as bad as those who love it too little.

Are the owners fat?

Wynne

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Anthony Dennison — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:55:55 GMT

It's slowly losing weight, and cataracts are starting to form. Hard to get clear answers from the owners as to whether she is PU/PD or not. A lot of contact is via email, as they never answer their phones. I've emailed to ask what the small meal consists of, and go from there.

Always feel I need to double check with Diabetes Mellitus for some reason!

RE: Managing owners of a diabetic pet

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:05:07 GMT

You can only work with the owners, not against them. The most important thing is that the dog gets the same food, at the same time, every day. Get the owners to write a meal plan that they will stick to ( even if it isn't what you recommend) and work with that. As long as the owners then understand that the level of control, and the dog's lifespan, may then be limited, then you are doing your best for the animal!

Symptomatically, how is the dog doing?