My little fur baby has been sick off and on for the last couple of months. I have taken her to her regular vet and they said that they couldn't find anything except for a UTI.

Gave her some antibiotics and in a week she was back to her old self, but within a month she was sick again.

I was talking to the Post office chick and she gave me a number to a mobile vet, well today I get home and it's (the mobile vet) is parked across the street.

I took my little girl to potty and we walked over there and knocked on the door. The veterinarian lady answered the door and we talked.

After some blood drawn and urine sample collected, an exam done the vet tested her blood with a glucose meter and it was off the charts!

To be sure that it wasn't on the fritz she tested the urine and my little girls glucose levels were high.

Now my baby girl is on insulin twice a day. I sure hope that this will get her well again. It has been driving me nuts trying to find out what is going on with her.

Her regular vet has been good, but I wonder why she didn't catch it (diabetes) with the visits. They supposedly did blood work, but now I'm not sure.

I just hope that we have found the cause of all of her problems.


The funny thing is, when I went to Walmart pharmacy and asked for the insulin, and told him what (who) it was for, he was very helpful and told me the best way to give it to her. Which was what the vet told me.

I'm hopeful that we got this taken care of, but I'm wondering what was going on with the regular vet. Why didn't she catch this?


ARman

No answer re: the vet, but I have two on insulin. Its doable. Consistent diet, exercise and careful insulin administration. Good luck,


RMD

Sorry about your pup. That's some major suckage.

They sure do make their way into your heart, don't they. Here's to hoping for the best.

H&K-Guy

Sorry to hear this, but glad they were able to diagnose it.

If you do not mind me asking, what were the symptoms?

quote:

Originally posted by P-220:
Sorry to hear this, but glad they were able to diagnose it.

If you do not mind me asking, what were the symptoms?

She would get "down", not active, didn't eat much and she lost 14 pounds in two and a half months, she needed to lose about 4 or so but....

She also kept getting UTI. This vet said that was a symptom of high glucose in the urine, feeding the microbes.

She would get "sickly" and not play or eat well. Which both are out of place for her. She is very active! She's 7 years old and still acts like a puppy. So I knew something was not right. She's a very "rambunctious" eater, lost of tail waging and talking. Yet when she got down she would nibble and didn't act enthused.

She has always drank water fast, being the people that she was rescued from didn't give her water, but she was more nutty over water the last couple of months.

So the symptoms with her was weight loss, lack of appetite, UTI multiple times, and more nutty over water.


Like I said before, she is very active. We walk at least one mile a day in bad weather, but usually 5 or 6. Lately that hasn't happened because of my ongoing kidney stones. I have been in a lot of pain, so it's been mostly a mile or less lately.

She loves to catch the ball, but when she's "down", showed no interest in it. So I knew something was not right.


ARman

Excessive water intake, excessive urine output, tired, lazy, appetite changes. UTI's.

Once you get their blood sugar levels stabilized, life gets much better.

RMD

If she was overweight for a number of years, this could easily cause DM II. Humans have up to 5 years in which they can change their diet and lifestyle habits and return to a non diabetic state. You could ask the vet if this is possible with your dog

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
Excessive water intake, excessive urine output, tired, lazy, appetite changes. UTI's.

Once you get their blood sugar levels stabilized, life gets much better.

RMD

Oh yeah, I forgotten about wetting. She would have accidents while she was a sleep. She also started to wet in the house, something that she never did before. I'm hoping that this is over!


ARman

Jake was lagging bad and I took him to the vet, they told me he was diabetic and they would need to keep him for the day to try to regulate him. I took him home that night with instructions to bring him back the next morning. I got up that morning fully expecting him to be dead. I fed him baby food with a syringe for 2 weeks to get him to eat.

I have been giving him twice a day doses of insulin for 7 years. Started out on Humalin N but it got expensive at +100$ a vial. I found Novalin N at Wally World to be a lot cheaper. This is a 12 hour insulin given routinely twice a day. Also get a dog/cat blood glucose monitor, I have one by Alphatrak that I think was available from Amazon. Have your vet show you how to use it properly. Another thing to watch for is diabetes will cause blindness due to cateracts. Jake has been blind for several years now.

Properly maintained, your fur baby can live a long life. Jake is now 16 years old.

Good luck and best wishes.

quote:

Originally posted by ARman:

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
Excessive water intake, excessive urine output, tired, lazy, appetite changes. UTI's.

Once you get their blood sugar levels stabilized, life gets much better.

RMD

Oh yeah, I forgotten about wetting. She would have accidents while she was a sleep. She also started to wet in the house, something that she never did before. I'm hoping that this is over!


ARman

I use the puppy pads in Jakes bed, on top of the bed under a towel. Easy to wash after an accident. With the amount of water they take in, frequent potty breaks are necessary.

As far as accidents in the house, Jake is so old all he does is sleep. I watch him for whenever he gets up and he goes outside immediately. Jakes total quality of life is how good his bed is.

Maybe slabsides can comment on this. I certainly don’t know but might want a third opinion at this point...

I had a cat that developed diabetes as a symptom of a UTI. It took many months, but between antibiotics for the UTI and insulin for the diabetes, she eventually recovered, at least temporarily. She was middle-aged when the symptoms began, and lived about five more years after they cleared up. A good life-span, the Vet assured us.

Ask the mobile Vet if the diabetes may clear up as the UTI responds to treatment.

Hats off to you, JWF. Your dedication to Jake brought a tear to my eye. Yeah, I know, you're his master and that's what you (and the rest of us) are supposed to do, but still...

quote:

Another thing to watch for is diabetes will cause blindness due to cateracts.

Yes, one of the two I have developed cataracts almost over night. I got her up one morning and she stumbled and bumped into things. It was heartbreaking. I knew it was coming as I had seen them in her eyes as they developed.

I was fortunate that there was an opthalmic vet in Birmingham who evaluated her and fixed her eyes. Was not cheap, but she is a young dog and has a great personality. She's done fine post-op.

Here's my favorite picture of her. She was certain that katydid was on the lunch menu. Look at that grin!!!



RMD

Sounds like the dog may have been in a state of ketoacidosis. Now that you are injecting insulin,I suggest having something like kero syrup around in case of hypoglycemia.

Thanks for the kind words Jim, it has been a journey with Jake but one that had to be trod.

ARman, definitely keep a bottle of Caro syrup handy to treat the low sugar conditions. I watch Jake and when he starts acting like he is drunk, staggering, wondering (more than usual ) I check his glucose level and if low I give him a q-tip dunked in Caro. The effect is immediate.

Thanks for the tip on the syrup, I have quite a bit of it thinks to a friend.

My little girl has been"down" the last few days, but this morning she's back to her active self. Plus she ate her breakfast good.

I'm sure hoping that we can get this under control, that she can get back to her old self of being a silly lil puppy and I don't have to keep wondering what the hell is going on with my fur baby.

I just don't understand how the first vet missed it.


ARman

quote:

Originally posted by ARman:
...I just don't understand how the first vet missed it.

You know what they call the guy who graduates at the bottom of his class in Med School, don't you?

Over the years we've been through about a dozen Vets. One suffered a brain aneurism and had to retire, another was killed in a car accident, a third (maybe the best of the lot) couldn't take the stress of the profession and left, at least two were crooked, and the rest were incompetent. Finally, for the last four or five years we've had one who's good enough to keep our cats healthy, and experienced enough to diagnose without expensive testing. His partner is just as good.

It's time for you to start searching for a better Vet. As a start, get to know the mobile Vet, and if she doesn't have a regular practice, ask for a recommendation. There are plenty of good ones out there.

I'm sure there are vets who are the bottom of their class but FYI getting into veterinary school in the U.S. Is actually more difficult and more competive than getting into medical school.

Vet school wash outs got to med school rather than the other way around.

Those who can't get into U.S. Veterinary schools will often go to school overseas.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:

quote:

Originally posted by ARman:
...I just don't understand how the first vet missed it.

You know what they call the guy who graduates at the bottom of his class in Med School, don't you?

Over the years we've been through about a dozen Vets. One suffered a brain aneurism and had to retire, another was killed in a car accident, a third (maybe the best of the lot) couldn't take the stress of the profession and left, at least two were crooked, and the rest were incompetent. Finally, for the last four or five years we've had one who's good enough to keep our cats healthy, and experienced enough to diagnose without expensive testing. His partner is just as good.

It's time for you to start searching for a better Vet. As a start, get to know the mobile Vet, and if she doesn't have a regular practice, ask for a recommendation. There are plenty of good ones out there.

Up until this point I have/had been happy with the regular vet, they ( a older male and younger female) seemed competent and especially the female carrying.

That's why I question why/how they missed this. I guess that I will have to reevaluate them.

This mobile vet lady seems on the ball, was very nice and within a few questions had it pretty much figured out.

The regular vet, is a full on hospital and able to do surgery and such. Not only that but their fees are good and we're highly recommend to me by acouple of people I trust.

So now I'm kinda of in a state of confusion. The regular vet has been good in the past, nice, readable rates caring and attentive to my fur baby. That's why I wonder why they didn't catch it. I thought they did blood work, did they not? Or did they mess it up somehow and miss the diagnosis?

Anyhow, the mobile vet chick was on the ball! She had it figured out in no time, plus she's also has readable rates, and comes down to the middle of nowhere (where I live) every month or two. If she's here already just a standard $35.00 office visit, if you call and make an appointment for a time she's not going to be here it's an extra $25.00 so for $60.00 she will come right to the house.

I'm going to see if she has a brick and mortar office that is readably close and maybe start going there.

I just know one thing. I'm glad to finally get some answers! My fur baby has been sick off and on for sometime now and it was driving me nuts trying to find out what the hell was going on!

She already feeling better. Been playing all day and has bright eyes.


ARman