RE: insulin dosing for tiny dogs

Nina de Goede — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 09:31:46 GMT

Thanks so much. I was going to start at that dose

The bg was 17 at pre anaesthetic for spey. We aborted and re-checked today and it was back to 5.6 so no insulin just yet!

Thank-you.

Nina.

RE: insulin dosing for tiny dogs

Ian Ramsey — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 09:22:00 GMT

Although the starting dose for insulin is often given as 0.25 units/kg this is quite conservative, starting dose of 0.3-0.4 units /kg are usually fine (just give it a bit longer before you increase the dose) and final doses of lente insulin are usually 0.3-0.6 iu/kg (refs). Smaller animals tend to need relatively higher doses/kg so I would personally be quite comfortable starting at 1 unit in a 2.7kg dog.

If you do need to go lower then you are probably going to have to starting injecting with a needle and syringe and diluting the insulin.

Hope this helps

ian

Fracassi F, Linari G, Del Baldo F, Di Cunzolo A, D'Angelo S, Malerba E, Carotenuto G, Bonfanti U, Corradini S. Comparison of lente insulin and NPH insulin therapy for the treatment of newly diagnosed diabetic dogs: a randomised study. Vet Rec. 2018 Sep 1;183(8):262. doi: 10.1136/vr.104818. Epub 2018 Jul 20. PMID: 30030413.

Monroe WE, Laxton D, Fallin EA, Richter KP, Santen DR, Panciera DL, Towell TL, Williams KA, Hart JR, Hill S, Finkler MR, Shinn JS. Efficacy and safety of a purified porcine insulin zinc suspension for managing diabetes mellitus in dogs. J Vet Intern Med. 2005 Sep-Oct;19(5):675-82. doi: 10.1892/0891-6640(2005)19[675:easoap]2.0.co;2. PMID: 16231711.