Diabetic dog's hypo & seizures -LONG Options

[gigem99]

The lady who lives downstairs from us has a dog - I really don't know what kind - a medium sized dog about 65 lbs. who was dx'd about 2 weeks ago. My friend was told to give her 40 units of NPH a day - 20 in a.m. & 20 in p.m.

She thought that seemed to be too much (and she really doesn't know much about DM), so she cut the dosage in half - 10 & 10.

Well this morning, about 2 hours after she had given her dog Cookie her dose, the dog started seizing. She got me up, and asked me if maybe it was the insulin causing it, and I told her that those types of seizures were caused by severe hypos. I got my cran/grape juice out of the fridge, and we tried to get it down her mouth, but she was seizing so hard, it was really difficult. I've really never seen anything like it.

We tried to get her to eat a cookie (Cookie loves cookies), but there was just no way. I had my test kit with me, and tried to poke her paw and her leg and her ear, but could just not get any blood going.

We loaded Cookie into my friends van and I went back inside to get dressed to go to the vet with her. When I came back out, the dog had somehow rolled out of the van - the side door had been open, and she was motionless. We all honestly thought the dog had died. But I felt up near her snout and saw that she was breathing. So, back into the van and off to the vet.

The vet checked her BG immediately - it was 25 - and started an IV of Dextrose. The vet tech told me that 'people meters' check about 100 points different that 'dog meters', so it really wouldn't have mattered if I had been able to test her with my machine. That was a shock to me, and I am still not sure I believe her. I'm going to spend some time checking that later today.

As I'm writing this, I just remembered that I have glucagon in the fridge. What in the heck is the matter with me? Why didn't I just load up a glucagon syringe and give the poor mutt a shot?!? My friend would have then saved a $250 vet bill (that she can't afford), and the poor dog would have been fine. My gosh.....

I'm still really shook up about this. I'm glad I don't have to work tonite.

[Bec]

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear about that. I'm glad to hear she made it. Wow, that must have been stressful. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) And very scary. My aunt has a cat that is a diabetic. She gives it insulin injections but I have no idea how much or how often. I've tested my cat's blood sugar once, for fun. I can't remember what the reading was but it was within normal range for cats. My boyfriend looked it up online at the time. After reading your post I found this website.

http://felinediabetes.com/bg-test.htm

Probably better sites out there that explain it though.

[Liz]

The vet checked her BG immediately - it was 25 - and started an IV of Dextrose. The vet tech told me that 'people meters' check about 100 points different that 'dog meters', so it really wouldn't have mattered if I had been able to test her with my machine. That was a shock to me, and I am still not sure I believe her. I'm going to spend some time checking that later today.

A friend/co-worker has had several diabetic cats. He's always tested them with a regular people meter. I'm pretty sure that I've read that a cat's BG range is the same as humans but maybe they test differently? The office cat that was at his work location was diabetic and about two years ago they found her having a seizure when the store opened in the morning. She spent a good amount of time in the hospital and they didn't think she was going to make it and if she did, if she would be able to walk again. She did mostly recover but she became blind as a result. She was already an older cat when it happened but she hung on for another two years. She was on an extremely small dose of Lantus and near the end the vet said they could probably stop giving it to her.

When I took care of my friend's cat at home I'd sometimes check her BG with a One Touch meter, with blood from her ear. Her numbers were always incredibly high. She was a teeny tiny cat, 7 pounds as a healthy adult before her diagnosis, and was taking a total of 8-10 units total in two injections and her numbers were regularly in the 300+ range. if people meters do test differently on animals, I wonder if the results are lower or higher than if you used a pet meter? Her venous lab tests at vet visits were always high too. With her numbers I don't think it mattered, you always knew she was high.

[gigem99]

My friend - the lady with the dog - moved out shortly after this incident happened. She dropped by today to get some stuff she had left behind (as well as charge her 4Runner that she had left out back). She had her dog Cookie with her.

I asked her how the dog was doing, and she explained that she only gives the dog a couple of units of Regular every few weeks. She seems to know when the dog's BG is high, and just gives 2-3 units - and not very often at that. I was shocked. The dog is about 11 years old, but it seems fine. She was pretty frisky - her eyes were clear and she hopped in and out of my friend's truck with no problems.

I'm really shocked that she's not giving the dog insulin, but again, the dog seems to be fine. This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I suspect the dog will suffer some kidney damage, but well....

[Liz]

I'm really shocked that she's not giving the dog insulin, but again, the dog seems to be fine. This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I suspect the dog will suffer some kidney damage, but well....

I read somewhere, and I have no idea if it's accurate or not, that dogs tend to have the dog equivalent of Type 2 and cats tend to have Type 1. So maybe your friends dog still makes insulin but needs a little help once in awhile. I still wouldn't give the dog insulin without at least testing her BG once in awhile.

Two months ago at work I noticed one of our office cats was drinking and urinating non-stop. I tested her using one of my meters and her BG was 74. Another time, 76. Another time, 74 again. I took her to the vet and her bloodwork from the lab also showed a normal BG. Her urine had bacteria in it so he put her on antibiotic for 2 weeks and said come back a week after she finished them. She was still drinking and urinating frequently. She had her urine retested and had a sonogram. They said she has a kidney infection and needs a longer course of antibiotcs, 6 weeks this time. She's a little less than halfway through them and she still drinks and urinates a lot but maybe not quite as much. I think she does more overnight because when I get into work in the morning the boxes are pretty full.

If nothing changes when she's done with the antibiotics I want him to test her for diabetes insipidus.