Diabetes.Blog.com

1 - Hi,
My name is Billie and my 9 year old lab Jazzie was diagnosed with diabetes one week ago. Three days after starting insulin she went blind. I am currently working on getting her insulin regulated and looking for a new vet as mine isn't very knowledgable about it. She has an appointment in five weeks to see if she is a candidate for cataract surgery. It's a very frustrating thing, this diabetes, and I'm sorry for anyone who has to live with it. I can only imagine the struggles humans go through every day!
If anyone has any advice or a story to tell, please post. I would love to hear from you!

Billie (Comment this)

2 - Hi Billie,

My 10 year old toy poodle is blind with cataracts, too. Apparently cataracts are common with diabetes in dogs. If you find out about the surgery - cost, how complicated, how likely to succeed - I sure would appreciate you sharing the information. I haven't had my dog checked for diabetes - I'm scared to, and he is terrified of the vet. I have only had him a few months, but I had a friend who struggled with regulating insulin for her aged dog and never succeeded. Watching her experience really made me wonder about the value of the treatment for old dogs. I can't decide what to do. How is it working for Jazzie? (Comment this)

3 - Hi Toneylee,
I am sorry about your furbaby's blindness. It's a tough thing on us softies! About the surgery, it is 90% effective. What I mean is it is effective on 9 out of 10 dogs. Most of the vet's where I live (Kansas City, MO area) charge from $3200 to $3700 for the surgery but I found a couple university's that have veterinary colleges and they are charging $2300 to $2800. The lower price is for one eye, the higher for two eyes. They say most people opt for one eye as this is enought to help them with stairs, finding their bowl, etc.
I would suggest you get your baby tested for diabetes if at all possible. It's a simple blood draw and you don't have to leave your pet there. And most vets will give you a mild sedative to give your dog an hour before coming to help with the stress level if they are afraid of the vet's office. Some of the symptoms of diabetes are: excessive thirst, excessive urination, weight loss, lethargy, loss of appetite, depression, vomiting and cataracts.

To add to our story, today, Jazzie was also diagnosed with Cushings disease. This is what has been keeping me from being able to regulate her diabetes. We are starting a whole new process of treatment for that them hopefully we will be able to regulate her. Maybe this is what your friend had working against her.....they say Cushings is not easy to diagnose as it mimics diabetes symptoms pretty closely.
Your little furbaby is a lucky dog to have you! Thank you for writing and I look forward to hearing from you again!

Billie (and Jazzie)

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4 - Hi Billie,
Thanks for responding. I missed that you had for a few days, and that's why I am late answering. What you say is very encouraging to me. It just so happens that I started looking for a new vet this past weekend, and I think I have been successful. I explained his extreme terror, and they office was understanding. And they have recommended a tranquilizer, too, but not until she has checked him out (because he is so old). Maybe I should ask about the diabetes test. The surgery is expensive, but not as bad as I thought. And I didn't know the success rate was anywhere near that good. Thank you so much for the information. It gives me hope - I could save up for it.

So, you mean Jazzie has Cushings and diabetes both? How difficult! Is it treatable? I will ask the vet about that, I think. How is the treatment coming? Are you going to get the cataract surgery? How is Jazzie getting around? Yep, stairs and bowls - those are the 2 hardest things. Although I have one advantage - Andy is getting used to being carried everywhere and he finds it most acceptable. ;) (Comment this)

5 - Hi Toney,

How funny that Andy finds being carried acceptable! That comment made me laugh out loud! The things we do for our furbabies :)

I am so happy you found a vet that you might be comfortable with and it has to be a relief that they care enough to check Andy out before they offer the tranquilizer. I hope you do get a diabetes test. It is a simple test but if anything, maybe they could do a full blood screening to check everything. I had that done on Jazzie and it cost me 85.00 but I had it done at a vets office that is known as being high priced. It was close to home so the convenience won over the price. But I find that knowing if and what is wrong helps my peace of mind because I know I am helping Jazzie be comfortable in her old age. We have opted not to go with the surgery yet because we are unable to get Jazzie's blood sugar regulated. I have done alot of researching on the internet and have found some eyedrops for blind dogs. My vet actually told me about them but said they are new enough he doesn't know if they really work or not. I found I can order them online and have read the clinical studies on them and it looks promising.

If you would like to read about them here is the link:

http://www.smart-nutrition.net/carnosine-eyedrops-article.htm

and one of the studies is on this link:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16939459

Other than that, everything is going well. Jazzie is managing to navigate better now. She seems to have developed an aversion to roaming the back yard, stays close to the patio. It may have to do with the fact that she hit the fence pretty hard when she went running because she thought she heard something. We have deer that frequent the other side of the fence and when she could see, she used to run at them to scare them away. I guess she thought they were there again.

It was good to hear from you again and I hope Andy continues to do well. It sounds like he has the best Mommy!! If you decide to get the blood test's and you don't mind....please let me know how they came out. Hope to talk to you again.


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6 - Thank you, Billie. Funny, I just was told about this Nu Eyes this weekend. I did a little Internet research and only found criticisms of the study (done by the same people marketing the product) and personal testimonials. One vet commented that it was "quackery" out of Russia. So I was discouraged. But the PubMed link looks legit and is out of England. And your vet said maybe try it. So I'm having second thoughts about carnosine (?) if not Nu Eyes. Maybe it is promising, and I'll search some more. Thank you for the links.

I will keep in touch when I have something to report. ($85 doesn't sound too bad.) Tell me if Jazzie does better, diabetes and Cushings both. I'd like to know.

The same thing happened to Andy with fear. One day outside, he slammed into the well, head on, screamed and turned and ran the other way - right into the side of the house. When I fianlly got to him, he was shaking and frozen. After that, he didn't want to go anywhere outside. I started using his leash in the yard, and his confidence increased dramatically. Because I was there with him and could tell him to watch out, redirecting him from obstacles. Now, he is more careful and doesn't need my protection anymore. He enjoys exploring. And if he gets lost (which he does both close by and farther away), he just lies down and waits for me to come and pick him up. It's a good system!

I hope Jazzie adjusts soon, too. I just know it's harder with a big dog. (Comment this)

7 - Hi all,

I am a human with diabetes who has a cat with diabetes. I was diagnosed a decade ago. My cat was diagnosed Dec of '06 at a regular vet checkup. I give her shots twice a day. No big deal as she gets fed regular tuna and then I give her the shot. As long as she has her tuna she doesn't care about the shot. cats have no feeling in their backs.

Anyway at her last check up a few days ago the vet said the diabetes may have gone away. This happens sometimes in cats. Had to go to the vet once a month. The insulin was expensive as were the needles and the vet visits. But you do what you have to do. Rocket is 11. And my husband was a great support. He learned how to give the shots and then he taught me.

First find a good vet. We have a great one in Brooklyn, NY Have been going to him for over 20 years. Rocket came from his office. Someone left a box of 5 kittens outside his office. Rocket was one of them.

Good Luck to you sll. (Comment this)

8 - Hi everyone!

My name is Jackie and my sweet 12 year old calico, Roo, was diagnosed with diabetes back in December '06. I asked the vet if it was possible that the tained pet food had anything to do with this new diagnosis, but I never really got a straight answer.

The only reason I questioned the food is because this was all very sudden. I am in the medical field, so I would be quick to pick up any new symptoms. Roo is currently on 4u of insulin, and is quite the little trooper. She does very well with her shots twice daily.

I wish you all the best :)



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9 - Hello all animal lovers. My 11 Y.O. minpin Lucy was just diagnosed with diabetes 10 days ago. I am having the worst time trying to give the injections. Lucy has figured out whats going on and runs from me. I started giving the injections while she was eating. Now she will not eat with her back to me. To make matters worse, her sister gets in the middle of things when I try to inject which causes Lucy to get nervous. I have been trying to give an injection for the last hour. My stomach is in knots, and I want to vomit. Can anyone give me adivice on a good technique on giving a nervous dog an injection? Thanks Tom form NYC (Comment this)

10 - Unfortunately we were to late to discover that my very beloved poodle (and best friend)Bingo had diabetes. He was taken to the vet yesterday morning after vomiting up everything he ate for the last 5 days and drinking lots of water. He was a fit 16 year old little character but it went from perfect one day to heart breaking the next. He was put down shortly after. Now after hearing your stories maybe there was more that could have been done, but we listened to the vet.

I miss my little friend so much and life at the moment doesnt make sense when something so special gets taken away from you.

Wish you all luck with your little friends!

Sandra
Sydney, Australia
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11 - Hi,

my ten years old samoyed started drinking tons of water and started peeing all over the house, 2 days later his back legs didn't work and he completely stopped walking. we took him to the vet and found out that he had diabetes. our main concern was will he ever walk again? he didn't walk for two more months but we kept rolling him on to a blanket and taking him outside to go potty and gave him insulin everyday twice a day, about couple of weeks ago he suddently stood up and took couple of steps, now he is walking around and is about 80-90% back to himself, he still needs insulin but now he is walking in and out of the house by himself. yipeee!!! (Comment this)

12 - Billie Branham,

My dog Bea was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago & last week I was told he would be blind within 6 months. We are having trouble regulating his insulin .Any one have any suggestions? (Comment this)

13 - Hi, The love of my life Bailey a 9 1/2 yr old Scottish Terrier was diag. with Cushings about 3 years ago and Diabetes about 2 yrs ago. Her vision has been slowly failing, but her insulin has been pretty well regulated over these last 2 years. However,about a month ago her vision has dropped off dramatically, we took her to the vet and did a blood curve. Which was somewhat elevated, but not shockinly so. We upped her insulin a unit and she has not responded as well as we hoped. She's not drinking as much, but her vision is terrible. She is starting to really have trouble with the steps, walks into things all the time,and now has stopped being as active as she can no longer see. We are seriously thinking about getting one eye done with the cataract surgery, but terrified this will flare up her diabetes or cushings. Anybody in the same boat? (Comment this)