My diabetic dog

Man’s best friend, woman’s best friend. Whatever you call it, she is our baby. Her name is Carmen. She is a 14 year old, caramel colored (hence the name) mixed breed terrier. Carmen has been living with diabetes for 3 years.

I sometimes feel so guilty about Carmen having diabetes. I kept thinking “we should have seen the signs,” which are excessive hunger and thirst and peeing all over the house. Hubby and I did not know what to make of it; we took her to the vet. One test later, she was diagnosed with diabetes. About 1-2 weeks after that, she started to get a haze over one eye. Since then, my household has gone through a transformation. No furniture is to be moved or rearranged; everything stayed the same, since she will “remember” where things are. The vet told us that she would adjust probably better than us, and he was not kidding!

The vet recommended diabetic food, which is very expensive: Purina Veterinary Diets DCO. You can only get this through the Vet’s office. One 18 lb. bag which costs about $50.00!!! A 6 lb. bag costs about $20.00; needless to say, we got the smaller bag. As you figured out, that one bag did not last long. After checking dog food ingredients, we found a dog meal that she can eat; Purina Fit and Trim. She no longer has canned dog food unless it is the gourmet type, which is very occasionally. I prepare her food using brown rice or some type of wheat pasta or egg noodles, some type of green vegetable like spinach, green beans, etc. and ground turkey or chicken. No white pasta for this special gal!

Carmen also has to have insulin shots twice a day, 12 hours apart. This blew the family away! Needles? I was not a happy camper. Her starting dose was 10cc twice a day, about 15-20 minutes after a meal. This was traumatic for all of us, but our little lady is part of the family, so we were committed all the way.

Infections can be another thing to keep an eye out for. Due to the extra glucose in her blood which passes to the urine, diabetic dogs are prone to urinary infections. This will happen because her blood sugar with fluctuate constantly.

Carmen is doing great! She is now 35 lbs. and rather lively for an old gal. The household schedule has been turned around to meet her needs but all and all, I am glad she is our pet.