November is Pet Diabetes Awareness Month. What do you need to be on the lookout for if you suspect your four-legged-friend like Miss Sadie has diabetes?
You will notice your pet drinking a lot of water. And just like we talked last week, same signs and dogs versus cats.” It's a lot easier to see your dog, drinking that amount of water,” says Dr. Brandon Beebout of the Beebout Veterinary Medical Center. “Dogs go outside to go to the bathroom so they're needing out more. It seemed like she was peeing there for 45 seconds, and then all of a sudden, her appetite increased, yet she's losing weight. Dr. Beebout says that dogs are easier to diagnose just even from an owner perspective. They're paying a little bit more attention. That's why it is important to pay attention to those litter box habits with cats. Dogs are sometimes screaming at the top of their lungs through their behavior that they have diabetes.
Dogs are more likely to have type one diabetes, so they are insulin dependent and will be on twice a day insulin. Again, a lot of people are afraid of that commitment. It is something that Dr. Beebout says anybody can do and the staff at BVMC will demo it for you. It's a tiny little 29-gauge needle and your pet will rarely notice insulin being administered. You want to get diabetes regulated ASAP, because differently than cats, dogs will go blind at some point because of their diabetes. The faster it is regulated, the less likely we're going to send that sorbitol through that lens of that of that eye and cause, cataracts or diabetic cataracts. They have an enzyme called aldose reductase and that's what makes them blind. Cats lack that enzyme, therefore they do not become blind.
Dr. Beebout encourages you to honor those glucose curve appointments so they can get you on the right, number of insulin because, like Sadie, her mom has been absolutely amazing, she's done everything BVMC has asked. Sadie actually has a couple other things going on, too, with kidneys and another endocrine disease. “I hope Jean will let me say this, but she shouldn't even be here today,” says Dr. Beebout. He was worried about her when she had all this going on and was in DKA, diabetic ketoacidosis, and thought we would lose her. Dr. Beebout said “Just give me a little bit more time. Let me keep working on her.” She's a doll, and now she's up and she's higher weight than she maybe has ever been after we worked on getting her down. The faster you regulate the diabetes, you're now able to utilize that sugar, your weight is actually going to plateau and then come back up, and that's what they've seen in Sadie.
Sadie will be on insulin the rest of her life. The goal is the quicker you regulate, the less insulin you have to give. The bottle of insulin can last you 75 days, so from a cost perspective, there are a few different ways that can make that manageable as well. Make sure you're monitoring those early appointments, and get your pet regulated, and then while you're watching at home, “hey, in six months, we're going to do another curve”. In those six months, are you noticing an increase in appetite or a weight loss? Or maybe drinking a little bit more? Well, maybe you're becoming a little bit resistant to that insulin and you need another curve sooner. And we're going to increase that dose.
If you have questions or would like to schedule an appointment:
Beebout Veterinary Medical Center
- 308.236.5912
- 2907 West 37th St.
- Kearney, NE
bvmcrep@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/HPCKearneyNE
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