Diabetes

Hello,

I've just found out that my 14 year old dog MAY have diabetes. It will cost nearly £100 for a blood test to confirm it. Has anyone got a dog with diabetes? If you have, could you please let me know how to manage it. Need to make a decision this weekend. Thanks

I dont have a dog with diabetes, but what decision do you have to make this weekend?

Here’s a link for an article about diabetes. Hopeful it will put your mind at rest. HTH

http://alexadry.hubpages.com/hub/-Wh...-with-diabetes

We need to make the decision of letting him have the blood test to find out for sure if it is diabetes. If it is, how to manage it. At the end of the day he's 14 not a young dog.

Hi there, our dog Jack was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (think thats how it is spelt!). He was 10 at the time and we had it confirmed at the vets with just a urine test,
They have to get the blood sugar levels stable and we had to give him two insulin injections a day. He was on special food (Hills dried food for dogs with diabetes) which had to be weighed, as they have to have exactly the same amount of food as this also helps with blood sugar levels.
Injection should be given at the same time as feeding.
Once you manage to get them stabilised, which can take a while, they can lead a normal life.
It is an awful shock and very upsetting I know when they are diagnosed, but hopefully your dog will be okay.
It is very expensive too for the insulin and food but you can buy it much cheaper on line from Viovet or Petmeds, but the vets don't tell you that! You have to have a prescription from the vet first though to buy insulin on line and they do charge a small amount for this now.
We had to have Jack PTS aged 12 last year (still miss him terribly) but he had another good two years. He went blind and diabetes does cause this sometimes. Is your dogs eyesight okay?
I hope this has been of some help to you.

What will you do if you decide not to have the blood test done?

His eye sight isn't the same as it was last year, but as I said he's 14 now. I really don't know what to do.

I suppose we will just carry on as we are. I work from home, so I'm here most of the time when I'm not seeing to my horses etc

OK, another question. Three questions actually.

1 - What will you do if you decide to have the blood test done and it shows that your dog is diabetic?

2 - Is it the cost of the blood test and/or cost of possible treatment/management that is concerning you?

3 - Is it the age of your dog that is/might be the deciding factor?

Ok.

1. It's the cost of the blood test.

2. If it is diabetes, I don't think I would be able to inject my own dog.

3. Do I really want to put my 14 year old dog through it all.