Today was a long day for Mr. Hobbs. I noticed that for the past couple of weeks, he’s been exceptionally thirsty. His bowl holds about 48 ounces of water, or about 1500 ml, or so. Normally it would take him about 2 days to empty it. This is normal, as the vet says about 1 ounce of water per pound. He weighs in at about 24 pounds (11 Kg), so 48 ounces in two days is about right. Lately, he’s been consuming it at about 4x that rate. Two bowls per day!!! Naturally, this causes him to have to go to the bathroom very frequently.
I had also noticed that his fur was getting wet around his belly and hind legs. At first I thought that he was licking himself a lot, but then didn’t see the truth in that. Upon closer inspection, I found out that he was ‘leaking’. It was urine. He was consuming so much water that his bladder couldn’t hold it. Also, during his walks this week, he was lagging behind considerably after only a block or two. I knew something was very wrong.
This morning, I took him to the vet. I did a walk-in. They saw him right away, did an examination, took blood and urine, and pronounced that he had canine diabetes! His blood sugar level was 652. Normal range for dogs is about 73-123. The doctor referred me to a specialist.
We returned home and waited for the specialist to call. They called about an hour later and set us up for an appointment at 2:30 PM. We took the appointment. Hobbs was a super trooper, trying to ‘regulate’ while he was there, you know, take charge. For such a super duper bad guy, he sure needed some coaxing to go with the doctor when it was time for his exam.
After the exam, the doctor told me that we needed to get him started on his insulin regimen this evening. She prescribed insulin and a special type of canned dog food to mix with his regular food.
When we left, Hobbs, who is usually all excited to jump in the car and search the floorboards for food, simply looked up at me and waited for me to pick him up. He was tired. Too much activity for one day.
We drove home, I dropped him off, filled the prescription, came home, fed him, and gave him his first insulin shot … of many. He’ll need it for the rest of his life. He’s my buddy and I’ll be taking care of him. He’s taken care of me plenty of times when I was down in the dumps. Now, it’s my turn to return the favor! 
He’s eaten. His belly is full. He’s taking his nap right now, a much needed nap.
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Canine, or feline, I’m a cat guy, diabetes is similar to human diabetes. It isn’t a death sentence any more, but it’s a situation that is not going away, will need to be dealt with long term, but in fact can be dealt with quite effectively. Hobbs may live out a perfectly normal dog lifetime. You’ll just have to be there for him to make that happen. Good luck to both of you.—Carl
I think Hobbs will have a normal life with the proper treatment and diet. When he starts to respond to the treatments most folks won’t be able to tell if he’s diabetic and you and he will grow accustomed to the insulin ritual.
Thanks, Ken: I’ve given him two injections, thus far, and it has been easy and no big deal. The needles are so tiny that he doesn’t even feel it at all. Even after one dose, it made a big difference in the way he was feeling. He seemed like his old self this morning, complete with the desire for a walk and a roll over on his back to let me rub his tummy.
So sorry to hear about Hobbs’ condition. As the others said, sounds like it might be quite manageable, though. Best wishes to you both.
Thanks, Eric: He’s already feeling better. He’s a trooper.
Paul, sorry to here about Hobb’s but thankfully it’s something treatable. Seems like dogs, much like us humans, are having more illnesses these days…perhaps says a lot about our environment. Best of luck.
Thanks, Earl. I guess that I have to walk a mile in your shoes, now.
You’ve been taking care of Foster for a while. 
I’ve started hearing more about diabetes in pets lately – a friend’s cat has it, but is responding well to the insulin treatments.
Hope everything goes well with Mr. Hobbs – he’s one cool cat!
This image of Hobbs looks so sad to me. Had a tears well up in my eyes when reading your post. I’ve not had a pet for over 20 years but I do know how they can easily become close to us. During the time of my separation, one of our cats who I did not get along with, would come and console me with their soothing purr. He knew of the pain I was experiencing. I also know that Hobbs is in good hands, you area special friend in his life, also. Looks like you two have another ritual in your lives. It will be good to hear of him searching the floorboard for food and finding a few more treats than normal. Just saying!
Not to worry, Monte. I’ll take good care of him, of this you can be sure! That’s my buddy through thick and thin. Maybe I’ll have to find some low-carb treats to ‘accidentally’ drop on the floor for him. LOL
Sorry to hear this. Just make sure you follow up with blood tests. We had a cat who was diagnosed as diabetic but after a couple of months on insulin his blood sugar was dangerously low. Once we took him off insulin he bounced right back to normal. We still don’t know what happened but we, with the vet’s help, almost killed him with insulin.
Thanks, Aaron. Yes. He will be back to the vet for monthly check-ups. He has a 2 week check-up scheduled to do a glucose blood panel, or whatever they call it. They will keep him all day to see how his blood levels are through the day. Also, will have to have him in for monthly check-ups.
I am glad Hobbs is doing ok Paul. We managed diabetes with our previous dog for about the last three years of her life. Insulin injections twice a day, switched to a completely home-made diet. There is a lot that can be told from the blood work other than the glucose level. Over time, they will need to check a stability factor that determines how stable his sugar level is being kept to try to avoid drastic swings from high to low. Good they are doing a day’s readings.
Sometimes the type of insulin is a big factor, which they are probably trying to determine. (Our dog seemed to do the best on Humulin N). It is largely a “tuning” process to see how well your dog, his diet and activity level responds to a certain dosage and type. It may need to be adjusted over time. I am sure they mentioned watching his diet like a hawk with little deviation.
You may be tempted to try to check his glucose level yourself. It depends on how tolerant he is and if he has a good spot to prick. We tried to look for an alternative to the bi-weekly vet bills and to keep a better eye on it. I have a dog blood glucose kit sitting unused if you are interested. We never had much success with it because we could never get enough blood out of a “prick” near her paws or anywhere else. The vet always drew blood from her neck.
Sorry to go on and on, just it hit a personal spot with me given our past experience. It is quite a manageable disease, just requires a bit more attention for our best friends.
Here are a couple of good sites, plus you can email me anytime.
http://www.dvm360.com/
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp
Mark:
Thanks for all of the good information. Yes. He has his first appointment on October 10th, where they will do the all-day monitoring, trying to see if they got the dosage correct. Further, they told me that it is something that they will have to keep a watch on at least monthly. As for the check ups, I signed up for Banfield’s wellness program, so for $40/month, I get unlimited visits to the vet, discounts on medicines, etc. Hopefully that will help to trim the costs a bit.
I am very much interested in your homemade dog food. I’ve been thinking about that. Most of the dog food out there seems to be pure waste product … animal digest, brewer’s yeast, soy meal, etc.
That’s good if the glucose check is included in the wellness program. It was costing us around $25 a visit every time we had it checked, and it was weekly for a long time until she got stable.