A few posts ago, I had blogged about my little puppy who was returning home from another visit to the vet hospital with probiotics to take after her antibiotic medications, (The Probiotic Army). I had mentioned how shortly after she was diagnosed with diabetes. That was a very heart wrenching experience. So after all the blogs on getting some energy restored, cleaning things out and hugging special “someones” or things in your life, I decided to blog about the experience with one of my special “someones,” my puppy, Penny.
We found Penny on a “for sale” page and fell in love with her immediately. She was the tiniest, cutest puppy I had ever seen. She was a beautiful copper color so my daughter immediately named her Penny, her lucky Penny. (Crap, I have tears already, I should warn you before you read any further you may need some tissues). I called the lady to ask if this little puppy was still for sale and she said she was. So I asked if I could come by that we were about an hour away and that my daughter had already had her named. She asked what the puppy’s name might be and I told her, Penny. She then informed me it was their family name and the name of the street they lived on. With that I said “well if she has 3 legs and no tail we’d be there to get her,” because it just seemed meant to be. CRAZY!!!
An hour out the highway we met Penny, she looked like a little hamster with tooth picks for legs. I initially felt oh my goodness this little puppy might not grow healthy but thought, I am taking her anyway, because at least if she had a malformation we would be the family who could help her. She was the runt of the litter and the family selling her were a little apprehensive, due to her being the runt, but the vet they had, assured them she seemed healthy. Oh my goodness, she was half the size of a pop can, but boy could she run. The gentleman named her little nipper because well, she was really good at giving little nips. It took us a LOOOONG time to get her out of nipping she’d even nip your toe if she walked past you, which gave many of our guests a start, until they became aware of her habit. Eventually with LOVE and MANY toys she stopped biting. As she got older, she would give kisses then sometimes what we would call a love nibble…never to hurt and never to injure, and only to myself and my daughter who were closest to her.
As Penny grew, she expanded twice as much, meaning every mouthful of food she ate went right to her hips. The crazy thing about it was she ate VERY little45r..opps sorry that was my cat walking across the keyboard..lol. That was suppose to be she ate VERY little. We could not understand how she was putting on weight with the amount of food she was eating. She was the runt of her Chihuahua litter and her breeder even thought she would be a tea cup chihuahua, but she turned more into a salad bowl shape, lol. We took her to our vet and they kept saying it was her food, so we changed to the best food available including cooking her boneless skinless chicken breasts in gluten free chicken broth…because she was also having reoccurring skin rashes, which our local pet store owner deduced was the wheat in the food, which was later confirmed by our vet. He explained to us about the amount of wheat/gluten in dog food and how many pets are now having more skin and respiratory infections then ever before and that if we tried to put her on gluten free dog food it could help her substantially. So that’s exactly what we did. We gently changed her over to the only gluten free dog food available to us within our area, which was a fortune, but she ate sooo little it made no difference, it lasted forever. So here we were with what should have been a tiny Chihuahua of 5-6 lbs becoming a growing 15lb, rash growing, little puppy. Our hearts were breaking to help her. After Penny became gluten free, her rashes cleared immediately, but her weight was still increasing.
I just realized this is going to be two blogs because if I keep this to one blog it will be a novel. So her illness will be part one and I’ll do a second blog for medications and her health after she started her treatment.
This was a very worrisome period for my family especially, myself and my daughter, for we became Penny’s nurses and our health was starting to diminish with lack of sleep and worry. I soon realized we needed to get to bed a bit earlier for Penny would surely have us up throughout the night wanting to pee several times and just the general daily worry of getting her to eat was wearing us down. I made sure I paid attention to our eating habits as well and Vit C and B intake to make sure our health didn’t become compromised. It may sound like “helicopter mom,” but we were up 3-4-5 times a night.
She LOVED the park, going for walks and her FAVORITE part was going on the swings.
Okay, so as Penny kept increasing in weight, we had at least 3 visits to the vet to explain to them it wasn’t her food it had to be something else, but as most doctors do, they blame mom for what the mom thinks is healthy, is not, and to reduce her portions. I said I can’t reduce her portions or she won’t be eating at all, that I waste more food then she eats. We would head home with sad faces wondering what we were going to do and why was no one listening to us????!!!!!!
With her weight increasing so did the illnesses. We thought it was the strain of her weight on her joints that was causing her left hind leg to crumble and she would end up scooting across the floor instead of walking, but we were soon to find out that it was called neuropathy from the diabetes.
Neuropathy is most common in diabetes. High levels of sugar in the blood leads to damaged nerves, usually happening in the feet but can also be found in the hands, limbs, even the nerves of the eyes. Neuropathy can cause loss of motor abilities such as walking, gripping of the hands, numbness and or pain shooting through limbs and loss of sight. With diabetic patients once glucose levels are under control the risk of neuropathy remains under control as well but as glucose levels increase so can symptoms of neuropathy.
Neuropathy can also be with people who have low Vit B12 levels or who work closely around different toxins causing nerve damage or pain, those fighting cancer some tumors can grow pinning nerves giving the same sensations, Shingles Virus and viruses which effect the nervous system, injuries pinning nerves or having inflammation cause the nerves to be pressed upon, there are many other ways that neuropathy can become a concern so anytime you feel pins and needles of the extremities causing pain or numbness in the feet, legs, hands, arms, visual pain or numbness, be sure to see your doctor for a check up. There are many ways to help decrease the symptoms, whether it be pain medications or different ways to help ease pain through Holistic remedies or exercises to decrease the discomfort, massages, acupuncture, Vit B12, capsaicin creams or ointments, essential oils in carrier oils, exercise regularly…there are many, many options to help.
Penny was now finding walking difficult, she became more ill, throwing up, lethargic, and was now hitting 20lbs. She would throw up clear water like liquid and I’d be up all night making sure she was drinking more liquids because I was becoming very concerned with how dark yellow her pee was becoming. One morning we woke and she was falling down in her throw up… I immediately took her to the vet hospital and this day a different vet came in. I pleaded with her “please I have been here at least 4 times now, we have done blood work and thyroid tests, our little puppy does not eat and she still gains weight, she can’t use her hind leg now and she is barely able to stand & throw up, before she falls down in her throw up or pee again…I am not leaving this hospital until I find out what is the matter, she can not die in front of my daughter” I could hardly choke back the tears. This young vet looked back at me, put her hand on my shoulder and said we will find out what is the matter.
We once again did a full blood work up and thyroid test. With her previous test results, she was baffled that this puppy was not diagnosed with diabetes long ago. She then explained to me that Penny needed insulin needles twice a day and that it could become costly, that I had a choice, but in my mind there was no choice I had to learn to give this little puppy needles to save her life and not end it. Luckily I am a bit medical savvy, lol, and was able to do the task, but it really was not easy, and the needles we were given seemed so big even for Penny and they caused her a lot of discomfort. So I researched into what needles I could get and found a syringe that was the shortest and slimmest I could find.
Penny started her treatment when she was 3 at the end of Nov 2016 and by March 2017 she had already lost half of her weight she was now down to 10-11 lbs. Her weight loss was remarkable and the insulin being given helped her to process the carbohydrates and sugars her body couldn’t process on its own. She even started to eat regular meals. She did have to be monitored all the time watching what she ate, how much she drank, how her sleep patterns were and her exercise. I even started a log so that during vet visits I could recall any information that was needed. She became our “sick child.” Her insulin HAD to be given exactly every 12 hours, so even our family and extracurricular life was scheduled to Penny’s insulin schedule.
There were a few set backs, she would get dehydrated very easily so I started to give her unflavored pedialyte some days and her energy seemed to return to the point we even got her a puppy wheelchair to help her go on walks.
IMPORTANT…Do not use unflavoured or flavored pedialyte for dogs or any animal or human with diabetes for rehydration, unless you are trying to increase the glucose, the sugar counts are too high and will cause serious fluctuations in insulin. There are many electrolyte waters that are now available on the market that you can use other then pedialyte as well, BUT Be sure to read allllll labels to be 100% sure there are no sugars added or naturally found in it, only use electrolyte water, that is just electrolytes (minerals) and water.
Throughout this experience I tried to find as much information on diabetes and pets, but there really is not a lot out there to inform pet owners on guide lines of what to try and what to avoid. The most I can tell you is be aware of carbohydrates, sugar and sweeteners in treats, you should try to give no treats if possible, even some meats can cause insulin spikes… its crazy. Make sure your diabetic animal stays hydrated, exercise is a must, weight control is a must… and all the love you can give. It took regular visits to the vet to check her sugars to make sure she was receiving the right amount of insulin.
IMPORTANT…High amounts of sugars being uncontrolled in the body for a diabetic will lead to Ketoacidosis…
Stay tuned to find out how Penny’s treatment continued, to learn about Ketoacidosis and get more information on what to do and not to do for your diabetic pet.
Oh and restock those tissues …you’ve been forewarned.
Happy Healing…For Your Furry Loved Ones As Well