Diabetes

[SweetBorderTerrier]

I wonder if any of you can help me.
For the last week/10 days my little BT has been drinking a lot, the day before yesterday she urinated on the rug, not like her at all,
She has also been sick a couple of times in the last week, again I wasn't concerned as she has always been a grass muncher.
When I got up this morning she had had another accident in the sitting rom, this time on the wood floor, parts had dried and it was as sticky as sugar syrup.
It's obvious she has diabetes. I'm gutted for her and so worried, she is on long term low dose steroids.
I'm going to ring vets for appointment as soon as they open but just wanted t know if any of you have managed this condition and could give me pointers as to what to do.
I've been googling and it all seems pretty overwhelming.
Injections, blood tests, diet.
Will I be able to keep her well, she is the darling of our house, we will do whatever it takes to keep her well, it just seems so daunting.


To make matters worse, we don't have pet insurance anymore, cancelled it last year when premiums went too high. Stupid.Stupid.Stupid.
Anyone have any sort of idea what the monthly costs will be?

[DancelikeEmmaGoldman]

There are a couple of excellent Facebook groups for diabetic dogs - search diabetic dogs and you'll find them. They'll hand hold you through the process and give lots of good advice on managing. Diabetic Dog Owners one - such a depth of knowledge available.

It's a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get your routine down and get your dog regulated it's not so hard. It just becomes habit. No reason your dog shouldn't be well and happy once you're managing her condition.

Once your dog is regulated, if you're home testing (so not paying a lot of vet visits), your main costs are insulin, syringes and test strips. You can often order these online at good savings.

Don't despair, you can have your happy dog back.

[DancelikeEmmaGoldman]

I should add, the steroids will complicate treatment, so have a really good conversation with your vet about alternatives.

[SweetBorderTerrier]

Thank you for responding.
I have a vets appointment at 3.45 today. Managed to catch a urine sample and dropped it off this morning for testing.

Ah...the steroids.
We've tried lots of different approaches over the past 2/3 years, she was on Apoquel for a while but her symptoms, itchy ears, chewing feet, just increased as the prednisone was slowly withdrawn.
She did develop a skin condition that the Vet thought could be related to steroid use but with treatment it went away and fingers crossed hasn't recurred.
At the moment she is on half a tablet every other day.

She has just come out of season and has been really well, she began drinking to excess last week, it seems to have come on so quickly.

I think you're right we will have to explore alternatives to the pred.
Thanks again.

[DancelikeEmmaGoldman]

If she's unspayed, having her desexed will help regulate the diabetes. That's something to talk to your vet about. I put my old boy down this morning, partly because of the impact of diabetes on his body and partly because he had other issues.

But he was an old dog when diagnosed and up until a couple of days ago, he was happy and interested in life. He did go blind, which is very common in diabetic dogs - again talk to your vet about the progress of cataracts.

I know this sounds gloomy, but it really is a manageable disease.

One thing that made a real difference to cost for me was using human insulin and getting it from the pharmacy (with a prescription from my vet). Some dogs do better with human insulin than vetsulin, which was my experience, and it was much cheaper.

Good luck.