Setter with Diabetes

gregers85

Hi All,
I was out last week with my two year old setter, wasn't the longest walk about 3 and a half hours, after about 2 hrs, she started getting tired but i taught nothing of it, we where working a hard area! another 20-30 mins past and she'd lost complete interest was just walking round me and not working so I said feck it ill head back to the car! About half way home she started really falling behind so I waited for her and put her lead on to keep her with me, a few minutes later she completely collapsed onto her side! I nearly had a heart attack I honestly taught she was dead! very little movement! I had a bottle of water so i gave her a drink nd washed some on her face to wake her up a bit! i had a few nuts for her but she wouldn't eat them! she kind of came back to life in herself again so we started off again nice easy pace! another 10-15mins and it happen again not as severe as the last but her back legs went from under her! so I picked her up and carried her the last mile or so to the car! when I got her home I gave her a good hot bath and fed her! she ate it right up this time and went straight to bed! She only came out if her bed to eat and drink for the next day too so I called the Vet and he said def bring her in, so we brought her in that evening and turns out she is diabetic! and her blood sugars have severely dropped causing her to black out!! Has any one had any experience with this???? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks

wildfowler94

Had a dog with it, mind you a bit older, the eventually go blind from it, you need to inject incilin twice a day.

charlie10

humans have the very same symptoms as dogs so cause if not minded in humans they go blind as well!

wildfowler94

charlie10 wrote: »

humans have the very same symptoms as dogs so cause if not minded in humans they go blind as well!

We have a dog thats minded injected and fed right but still went blind vet said it happens to dogs

charlie10

i know an old lad that went blind too from it . bad buzz!

snipe02

did the vet not advise you on the best way to deal with it i know diet is a huge factor in combating symptoms and id imagine its the same for dogs ive heard lads say have a bar of chocolate with ya eat half yourself and give the rest to the dog its very controllable

gregers85

Ya the vet was a great help (he is a really good vet no BS with this guy!!), her diet has to be completely changed! she is not so bad yet that she needs insulin, for the moment it can be maintained by diet but the vet reckons as she gets older she will probably have to be injected! We dont have to give her chocolate, chocolate is very toxic for dogs on its own - instead we got a syringe with a glucose jelly-type stuff in it to give her if she gets weak on a walk or anything!

brianfrancis45

gregers85 wrote: »

Ya the vet was a great help (he is a really good vet no BS with this guy!!), her diet has to be completely changed! she is not so bad yet that she needs insulin, for the moment it can be maintained by diet but the vet reckons as she gets older she will probably have to be injected! We dont have to give her chocolate, chocolate is very toxic for dogs on its own - instead we got a syringe with a glucose jelly-type stuff in it to give her if she gets weak on a walk or anything!

Years ago had a dog once with the same thing. Change of diet is a must as this should enable you to control the diabetes and hopefully delay it from developing to a stage where insulin needs to be injected. When the dog keels over like that this is what's called ''Hypoglycemia '' which is when the blood sugar (glucose) level drops too low. Exact same thing happens to humans and it can be very dangerous , even life threatening !.
You right about the chocolate - its highly toxic to dogs. I used to carry a bit of honey in the bag with me and when my old dog would very occassionally throw a wobbly like that out in the field, I would shove a couple of fingerful's of honey into his mouth and hold it closed until he swallowed it. Within a couple of minutes the dog would be right as rain again and bursting to go....

gregers85

brianfrancis45 wrote: »

Years ago had a dog once with the same thing. Change of diet is a must as this should enable you to control the diabetes and hopefully delay it from developing to a stage where insulin needs to be injected. When the dog keels over like that this is what's called ''Hypoglycemia '' which is when the blood sugar (glucose) level drops too low. Exact same thing happens to humans and it can be very dangerous , even life threatening !.
You right about the chocolate - its highly toxic to dogs. I used to carry a bit of honey in the bag with me and when my old dog would very occassionally throw a wobbly like that out in the field, I would shove a couple of fingerful's of honey into his mouth and hold it closed until he swallowed it. Within a couple of minutes the dog would be right as rain again and bursting to go....

Ya that's pretty much what the vet has said! when he tested her blood sugar level it was less then half what it should have been and that was an hour after eating! He was saying not to have her out for more then 2 hrs at a time

Vizzy

snipe02 wrote: »

did the vet not advise you on the best way to deal with it i know diet is a huge factor in combating symptoms and id imagine its the same for dogs ive heard lads say have a bar of chocolate with ya eat half yourself and give the rest to the dog its very controllable

I was always told that chocolate is extremely toxic to dogs

Am I wrong ?

Edit: Answered in the very next post,doh:o

snipe02

ya heard that about it being toxic aswell but how much dont think half a mars bar is goin to kill em onions and garlic are toxic to em aswell but how much they want to be eating a fair bit lads hear toxic and lose the run of themselves but its irrelevant as there have been alternatives mentioned alcohol is toxic but i bet ya put a fair bit of that away anyway hope your dogs lives a long and happy working life