Buzz, the Diabetic Dog

Terriers Apparently Need Groomed...

2014-04-02T17:41:00.002-04:00

Buzz and Bella got hand stripped today - and they look AMAZING.

Buzz BEFORE:

Buzz AFTER:

Bella BEFORE:

Bella AFTER:

Diabetic Living

2014-03-12T12:27:00.002-04:00

A year ago, I got an offer from Diabetic Living to do an article on Buzz and his diabetes. The issue came out last month and it's AMAZING. The issue is the Spring 2014 edition.

The piece of artwork (done by the wonderfully talented Kathryn Finney) is actually hanging in my living room right now.

Go pick it up at your local magazine retailer today (I got mine from Kroger!)!

Been a while..

2014-02-03T12:41:00.001-05:00

Buzz has been doing amazing lately. The past couple months have seen some ups and downs, but overall, things around the M house are great.

We had a glaucoma scare back in October. Does anyone know a dog diagnosed with glaucoma and had to have the eye removed?

It all started with an eye infection. To be safe, since Buzz already has cataracts, our vet wanted us to see the eye specialist. Of course this had me on pins and needles, imagining the worst. Don't ever google 'dog glaucoma' unless you are fully prepared to have your dog's eyes removed. Because I was not ready for that. So I had a full blown panic attack at work.

The eye specialist was amazing. To make a long story short(er), Buzz doesn't have glaucoma. He only has chronic dry eye (which caused the infection) but is at risk for developing glaucoma in the future. So now he's on a daily anti-inflammatory drop and gen-teal severe drops to help the dry eye issue. A minor price to pay for his eyesight!

He hates the drops, but he'll do anything for treats so he takes them like a champ.

Anyone have any advice on glaucoma or cataract management in dogs? I'd love to hear everyone's story with these diseases.

Bella is OBSESSED with my 6-month old niece. Buzz couldn't have cared less.

Stress and diabetes/IBD

2013-09-04T18:45:00.001-04:00

First, let me say that Buzz has been doing great since his hospital stay in June. It took about 3 weeks for him to fully recover, but he has been doing wonderful since.

The hubby and I went on vacation with some friends over Labor Day weekend and left Buzz and Bella with my parents. My parents live 6 hours away from us so it's a haul to get there, but kenneling them isn't an option (I have yet to find a kennel that will give insulin injections) and staying at the vet is too expensive for a short trip - so we drove the 6 hours for my parents to look after the pups.

Everything goes fine after we leave - Buzz eats normally, my mom is a pro at injections, no major fights with their dog. Everything is good.

But then we get back to my parents yesterday and start the 6 hour drive home. At dinner, Buzz refuses to eat. So he gets half of his normal amount of insulin. Then he refuses to eat breakfast. Again, half the dose of insulin.

We'll see how he does at dinner, but it looks like I'm going to need to call the vet and get him back on metronidazole. I've seen the effects of stress on Buzz before and it's been known to start a flare-up of his IBD/pancreatitis. I know I hate stress, but it seems like Buzz hates it just as much.

I'll leave you with a picture I took right after Buzz got home from the hospital. Doesn't he look so happy to be home? I love this picture...

a diabetic setback...

2013-06-25T16:24:00.000-04:00

Buzz is in the animal hospital. Or the doggie prison if you'd ask him. Pancreatitis: the return of the vomiting. Sometimes I feel like my life would make a great movie.

In his mind, he's done his time. 36 long, hard hours. I will (hopefully) get to pick him up tonight, but that could change if he starts throwing up again. I visited him last night and the poor guy couldn't stop throwing up long enough to cuddle with me. But the only thing that seemed to be on his mind was the door and getting through it to go home. It broke my heart to leave him there.

Please don't leave me.

Before the pancreatitis set in, Buzz had his first hypoglycemic event at home. He started shaking and acting really strange and he even threw up, so I checked his sugar. 30! As in, T-H-I-R-T-Y (the normal low is about 80). He (of course) had no interest in eating, but I was SO FREAKING LUCKY that we had karo syrup. I dipped my finger in it and spread it over his gums (as I had read to do in other blogs and websites). Buzz was not happy about that, he really hated the taste - but I can't blame him. Everything returned to normal within an hour.

Then it happened again in the middle of the night. The vomiting, shaking, and totally weird behavior had me absolutely freaked out. I got him to the emergency vet, which is also the same place as our diabetic/internal specialist vet, and he's been there since.

I think the pancreatitis caused the hypoglycemia - everything just got so messed up. Having an autoimmune dog sucks.

Does anyone else have any experience with pancreatitis and diabetes?

Question:

2013-06-09T11:39:00.001-04:00

Hey y'all. I have a question for all of you dog owners out there...

We feed Buzz and give his insulin at 8AM and 8PM every single day. His schedule is incredibly structured and he loves that. He knows when it's time to eat. When it's time to poop. When it's time to play. He has thrived this way. This not only makes his world easy and relaxing, but it also helps us. If even the smallest of Buzz's behavior is out of whack, we know something is wrong and can usually get him treated and healthy and back to normal.

It's been this way ever since he was diagnosed with diabetes. My husband and I are so careful to make sure one of us is home for breakfast and dinner, which is really hard for 2 young adults who love to go out with friends, but we've made it work (not without sacrifices, though).

Then came last week. My favorite band was playing at a venue which is a 90 minute drive from here and the concert didn't start til 8PM, which is Buzz's dinner time. We decided it was worth it to rearrange Buzz's schedule for the couple of days before and after the concert so we could go. Moving his food time didn't seem to bother him until the days after the concert. Now, he doesn't want to eat. This is a dog who LIVES for food. If I lose track of time, he's always there to remind me that it's dinner time. But for the past few days, he's acting like making him eat is like making him take out the trash - the worst thing in the world.

So my question to all of you dog lovers, how do I get him back on a schedule? We've tried taking his food away and only giving half of his normal insulin amount, to re-teach him that he eats when we feed him, but he still doesn't seem interested in food during the next meal. His behavior is fine. He's playing, drinking water, sleeping, etc normally. He's interested in our other dog's food. He wants treats. He just doesn't want his food during his normal feeding time. I've resorted to using his food as treats just to get it into his system, and he'll take the kibbles as treats. But as soon as I put his food bowl back down, he doesn't want it.

Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated. :)

Who couldn't fall in love with this face?

Diabetes is hard...

2013-06-03T16:06:00.000-04:00

Buzz had an at-home glucose curve done back on May 23 and these are the results:

That's bad. I know it. You know it. His last curve was in January and it showed that his numbers were all within a normal range (see here), but obviously something has changed since then. I hate seeing numbers over 350. That's when his body starts making those dreaded ketones that can lead to ketoacidosis (not fun!).

He's gained a bit of weight the past few months (about 2 pounds, but for a dog his size, that's pretty huge). BUT he's exercising more now that the weather is better, and you'd think that exercise would help bring his numbers DOWN... not up. So I don't know.

We've increased his insulin by 2 units in the morning and 3 units at night and we'll check his glucose curve again in about a week to see how he's doing. As of now, he doesn't have any symptoms of ketoacidosis or pancreatitis or a flare-up of his IBD... so keep your fingers crossed for us, please! :)

still here!

2013-04-28T12:58:00.000-04:00

Hi y'all! Just a quick note to let you know we're still here, chugging along. Buzz has been happy and healthy and he's been super busy with annoying Bella. Proof:

Who, her? No, she doesn't want that treat. She says I can have two.

A successful teeth cleaning!

2013-02-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Buzz was healthy enough to undergo anesthesia and had his teeth cleaned (yay!). He had two teeth extracted and has some pretty bad enamel damage, probably due to poor nutrition as a pup, but he is doing great. He's on pain killers and antibiotics, but it hasn't slowed him down one bit.

He did, however, have a low blood sugar reading right before anesthesia. 30. 30! Luckily, he already had an IV/catheter in for fluids, so they were able to control it right away and continue with the cleaning.

And the best part? No more stinky breath. Well, until he eats his own poop, that is. We're going to work hard to break him of that! :)

That little gnarly tooth on the bottom right is now MIA! :)

an update plus a bonus glucose curve

2013-01-14T11:30:00.003-05:00

Buzz is doing awesome. Here's his glucose curve (using the alpha trak 2) from yesterday and his glucose number from this morning (his last curve was in September):

Pretty good, huh? He stayed between 100 and 200 all day until dinner. We may need to adjust his morning dose a bit so it doesn't get so high right before dinner, but his night insulin dose is keeping his numbers low enough that 12 hours later, his glucose is sitting right around 200. Obviously this isn't a 24 hour curve, so I don't know what's going on at night, but since his morning numbers were similar two mornings in a row, it seems stable to me.

Buzz and Bella both have appointments for teeth cleaning on Feb 6. Let's hope Buzz doesn't get sick because then our internal medicine vet won't let him undergo an anesthetized procedure and we'll have to deal with his teeth later (knock on wood for me, would ya?). :)

Buzz Unedited

2012-11-01T15:46:00.000-04:00

wordless wednesday

2012-09-12T13:22:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2012-08-22T12:33:00.004-04:00

This poor, unfortunate soul...

Lately..

2012-07-14T10:40:00.000-04:00

The past few months, Buzz has been doing really well. We've done a few curves, increased his insulin a few times, and he's been as healthy as a horse in one of those huge mansion-stables that are scattered throughout Kentucky. Seriously, the horses here in Lexington live better than I do! Don't believe me, here:

That mansion-stable is probably 10x bigger than my house... ugh.

Anyways, back to Buzz... he had a flare-up of his IBD (irritable bowel disease) this past week. Started with vomiting then progressed to blood in his stool when he did eat, and ended with him being sick and depressed. Luckily, we caught it in time, started him on meds, and he's getting better.

The worst part about having a dog with IBD? Having a dog with IBD AND diabetes. When he won't eat, we give him less insulin (about half his normal dose). But what about when he eats a little bit? Do we give him his full dose, part of his dose, what? It's a tricky game. You don't want his sugar to go too low, but if it stays high, that presents new obstacles (ketoacidosis for one).

He was sick for maybe a total of 3 days, and is back to playing with me and the hubby, annoying the crap out of Bella, and eating like a maniac. He toughed it out, like he always does. Thank goodness.

Sunny Day

2012-05-14T15:16:00.002-04:00

Glucose Curve w/the NEW AlphaTRAK2

2012-05-08T12:53:00.003-04:00

Here is Buzz's blood glucose curve from this past weekend. A glucose reading was taken every 2 hours between breakfast (8AM - 1.5 cups of Hills z/d, 9 units of insulin) and dinner (8PM - 1.5 cups of Hills z/d, upped to 10 units of insulin).

First, the numbers are horrible. Way too high. We've increased his insulin and will be re-doing the curve this weekend.

Second, I sort of have mixed feelings on the new AlphaTRAK 2. Here's why. His 10AM reading was 398. My husband wanted me to get two readings from two test strips, both on the new meter, at the same time. The second reading (taken immediately after the first) was 40 points lower (and NOT reported in the above graph). No idea why.

Third, Buzz is showing me that I don't think he's ever really going to be regulated. Every time we increase his insulin, it holds for about a month - but then he needs more.

Thoughts?

AlphaTRAK 2

2012-05-04T13:39:00.004-04:00

I splurged and bought the new AlphaTRAK 2. And it's amazing.

I've only used it twice, but I am going to do a glucose curve on Buzz this weekend and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to try to compare it to our original AlphaTRAK - but I make no promises because it hasn't exactly been working lately (hence why we bought the new one)!

new glucometer

2012-04-28T09:45:00.001-04:00

Has anyone used the new AlphaTrak 2 glucometer? Our original AlphaTrak meter was giving us the 'Er4' message for a while, and now is super unreliable if we can manage to get a reading. So we are looking into new glucometers.

With that said, we have 100 unused AlphaTrak test strips if anyone wants them! Just send me an email at mydoghasdiabetes@gmail.com

Thanks!,

Our favorite little diabetic...

2012-04-09T14:38:00.000-04:00

...is sick once again. Will he ever get healthy?

Hopefully, we caught it early enough and he won't require any hospitalization. He's going back on antibiotics and we are going to keep a very close eye on him these next few days. The antibiotics should clear anything/everything up before we get started on that slope that always seems to progress to a vet visit. :\

But I do have some good news... drum roll please... Buzz's diabetes is back on track! I did a glucose curve this weekend and his numbers were excellent. So, yay for that! We gotta celebrate our victories when we can, right?

Happy birthday Buzz!!!!

2012-03-08T13:43:00.001-05:00

This post is a few days late...

but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. BUZZSAW! We love you so very much.

Buzz has officially been with us for 2 years now (as of March 6) and we think he turned 6 years old right around this time of year as well!

Update!

2012-03-02T12:03:00.002-05:00

Buzz went for his annual check-up last weekend, and here is what I have to report:

He weighs 19.2 lbs! That's awesome.... like, really, really awesome.
He still has PLE (protein-losing enteropathy). His albumin levels are still low. Higher than the last test - but lower than normal.
Instead of doing his annual vaccines (minus the rabies), we did a blood test to see what his antibodies are for those vaccines.

Since he's now considered an 'anti-immune dog' (meaning he has issues with his immune system attacking himself), all of our vets agreed we should check to see if he even needed vaccines. Vaccines activate the immune system - so if we don't have to activate it, we reduce the risk of him getting sick. And good news - no need to vaccinate! All his vaccine titers were within normal range for a vaccinated dog.

Overall, he's in a good place right now. His diabetes is still wonky (will it ever get regulated, sheesh?), but his overall health is listed as 'good'. Yay! We have no further plans for vet visits unless 1) he gets sick again (quick, knock on wood) or 2) we continue having trouble regulating his diabetes.

it's been a rough few months for Buzz

Buzz is tired of being sick.

2012-02-20T13:10:00.000-05:00

Buzz was back at the emergency vet last Saturday (Feb 11). He ended up staying the night there because he couldn't stop vomiting.

We found out that he had low albumin via a blood chem panel. Albumin is a protein that keeps blood in the vessels, so when it's low, there can be swelling. His face was swollen and he was a bright shade of red, so that seemed to fit the symptoms pretty well. They started him on cerenia and metronidazole (as always) and gave fluids through IV (though he wasn't too dehydrated thank goodness, as that seems to be the trigger for really going downhill). He improved on Sunday, but was still swollen and red. On Sunday night's blood test, his albumin was higher, but still too low. We took him home because there wasn't much else that could be done.

On Monday morning, I woke up to Buzz being incredibly red and swollen - so back to our normal vet he went. He stayed there all day (no fluids), and they rechecked his albumin Monday evening - which was higher than Sunday night, but still lower than normal. His swelling had gone down, but the redness was still very much there.

With all of this (plus his vet visit a mere 2 weeks ago), he was diagnosed with PLE - protein-losing enteropathy. PLE occurs when the dog loses albumin, probably via Buzz's intestines, which leads us to the 2nd diagnosis:

Buzz was unofficially diagnosed with IBD - irritable bowel disease. I say unofficial, because to officially diagnose IBD, an endoscopy is done with a biopsy taken from the intestines to confirm. We opted against this for several reasons. First, Buzz is a diabetic and anesthesia is definitely going to mess with his system (plus, right now, he's an unregulated diabetic, the worst kind). Second, he was recovering. A biopsy is usually going to show abnormal pathology when the bowel is inflammed, and it's likely that at that point in time, the inflammation was decreasing. Third, the only course of treatment is steroids - which Buzz cannot have - and a switch to hypoallergenic food, which we have made. Steroids can be used on Buzz in only extreme circumstances, like if his life is in danger, as they make diabetes worse.

So now Buzz is on a new food (Hills Prescription z/d) and he's recovering. He's off antibiotics and the cerenia, but is still getting sucralfate for a few more days (to coat and protect his stomach).

We're back on the path to getting his diabetes regulated (again!) and he seems happier and happier every day.

Diabetes Update

2012-01-31T10:54:00.000-05:00

With Buzz getting so sick last week, his diabetes has been all over the place. The final diagnosis was 'ketotic with mild pancreatitis.' We think the dehydration is really what did him in, but his glucose has been high for far too long, and we were just too lax in getting it controlled better.

So let's back up a minute and talk about the diabetes.

Early December we took him to the diabetes vet for a fructosamine test - which came back high. We began adjusting his insulin levels, and by last week, we had increased both AM and PM doses by 2 units.

When he started vomiting Tuesday morning, we gave him half his normal dose of insulin (when a diabetic dog doesn't eat, the normal protocol is to give that dog 1/2 the amount of their regular insulin dose). Tuesday night came, and he was still vomiting and had diarrhea, so we skipped his insulin - and took him to the vet.

Wednesday morning, his sugar was about 200 (higher than normal, but not too bad), but we took him back to the vet because he was still sick - and they gave him some insulin there, although I'm not sure how much. While the vet was busy trying to figure out what was wrong with Buzz, the vet techs were keeping a close eye on his glucose, which seemed to yo-yo - probably from the meds, lack of food, vomiting, etc.

Wednesday night our normal diabetes vet was busy with other dogs, so a different vet decided to give Buzz 5 units (way more than half of what his normal dose would be) on an empty stomach (still vomiting) - and surprise, he responded very well. His sugar did go a little too low (down to 60), but came back up with no karo syrup needed.

I got a call from our vet Thursday morning that since Buzz responded so well to this high dose of insulin, he wanted to increase Buzz's insulin at home to between 8 and 9 units (since the 5 units took the glucose a little too low, and 5u on an empty stomach is equivalent to 10u on a full stomach) with food and that should (hopefully) help him get regulated again.

Buzz was cleared to come home Thursday evening (!) because he had stopped vomiting and having diarrhea. When my hubby and I arrived to pick him up, you should've seen his face. It was pure love and excitement. I picked him up, and he couldn't stop licking me, thumping his tail, and trying to get me to go to the door (he hates the diabetic vet's office - every time he's there, he's really sick so you can't blame the guy). I was just really happy that he had responded so well, and not only that, but we got some insight on how to better control his diabetes. We never would've increased his insulin that much if it hadn't have been for the other vet giving him so much insulin Wednesday night. It could've been bad - but since he was at the vets all night, they would've had the ability to bring his sugar back to a normal level. But thank goodness that didn't happen.

I'll finish this post another time - I've got to get back to work!

Buzz Update

2012-01-26T15:06:00.000-05:00

Buzz started vomiting early Tuesday morning and had diarrhea start later that day. He wasn't interested in any food or water, so we took him to the emergency vet clinic Tuesday night. They pumped him full of fluids and gave some anti-nausea meds to help with the vomiting and we brought him home.

Wednesday morning, Buzz vomited bloody water, so back to the vet he went. Our internal specialist vet did blood work, an ultrasound on his pancreas, and numerous other tests and concluded that he couldn't conclude what was wrong with Buzz. Ultimately, he decided to treat for pancreatitis and an upper urinary tract infection.

I visited Buzz Wednesday evening and he was looking a little better, but still pretty weak (he hadn't eated for almost 48 hours at this point). The vet tech informed me that Buzz was now known as the 'explosive diarrhea-er' since whoever took him out could hear it from 10 yards away. Ha. Poor guy. He stayed overnight to keep his IV fluids and antibiotics going.

The Buzz update as of this morning was that he hadn't vomited or had diarrhea all morning. And they fed him and he gobbled it all down in 5 seconds flat.

I just talked to our diabetes vet, and he said that Buzz is doing a lot better and we can take him home tonight. He wants to keep him on fluids for a few more hours but otherwise, Buzz is stable enough for home. He wants to increase his insulin (almost forgot about the diabetes, didn't you? I didn't mention it previously because his glucose was so messed up these past few days, I wouldn't even know where to begin) by a few units in both the morning and at night, which is a lot for a dog Buzz's size.

In conclusion, Buzz got sick. Really sick. 3 days later and we still don't really know what caused it, but we are going with pancreatitis and an upper urinary tract infection. His diabetes is all messed up, but once we get him home and back on a routine, it will be easier to deal with. Obviously the diabetes played a role in him getting sick (he's got a sucky immune system that likes to attack itself), but wasn't the major problem this time.

PS. I find it rather curious that Buzz always seems to get sick right before February, which is National Pet Dental Health month and our regular vet offers 20% off expensive dental services. Buzz has nasty periodontal disease (from years as a stray and throw-away dog) and desperately needs extensive work done, but our diabetes vet won't approve of him going under anesthesia when he's sick and unregulated. Hmm... maybe he's much smarter than we take him for? :)

Little surprises in life...

2012-01-17T09:57:00.000-05:00

The hubs and I woke up this morning and found a pile of throw up at the end of the bed, under our blankets. Neither dog would own up to it... so we had to put our detective hats on (figuratively of course, although it would be pretty cool if we had real detective hats exactly for this purpose).

Buzz's diabetes has been pretty unregulated, but he's doing better - and even better than that, he's gaining weight. Not sure if it was him. He normally doesn't like to burrow under the blankets, but it was storming last night and he was scared - so he burrowed.

Bella is known around town as pukey-mcpukerson. She throws up a lot, mostly due to nerves (she's a super anxious dog) or excess bile production (though both dogs are on a medicine to help curb this, but puking still happens). She's also a notorious burrower. She loves to be under the blankets and between my legs (weird, I know)...

The 'mess' was near my legs, which led us to the pukey-dog (Bella), as that's her spot, and she would probably have freaked out if Buzz had burrowed down to that spot.

So our conclusion is that the culprit is Bella. She's been acting fine all morning, so we are assuming it was a fluke caused by the storm and her nerves. At least she's not diabetic, so the loss of food in her stomach won't cause any severe side effects.

Buzz was so over Christmas.

However, Bella was not.