Caninsulin Adventures Begin: Dealing with Canine Diabetes

The weather got really warm really fast! I want to go for more walks but I've been feeling yucky. After losing my sister, Zoya, Mom and I did a few walks but I started feeling sick. I was getting clumsy, like falling and stuff. I lost weight too, so I was excited at first...

These are from one walk after Zoya passed away...

I found a bird nest!

It was empty though...

But then I started having... accidents...
A lot of them... like, I'd move and just tinkle.... or I'd try to hold it and I couldn't....

At the vet's clinic for a little lab work...

I don't like needles so I couldn't watch... "Tell me when it's over!"

Atom, my little brother, came for support... he watched.
Needles don't bother him when they're sticking in someone else...

Mom noticed how thirsty I was all the time too and she brought me to see the doctor. At first he was afraid it would be something called renal failure, but when my lab work came back he called and told Mom I have diabetes.

I weighed about 18.2 kg which is just around 40 pounds. Last year I was 55 pounds... about 24.5 kg. I thought I was doing well, losing all that weight, but it turns out that a lot of it was a thing called muscle atrophy.... Mom says it's when the body eats muscle because it isn't getting what it needs from food. In my case, I was eating but I wasn't able to use the glucose I'd get from the food so over time my body started attacking itself to survive and I lost weight from that.

It's scary to have something that you didn't have before and now it'll be with you for the rest of your life. I didn't know what to expect, and I don't really understand what's going on.

The doctor said it hasn't been going on very long, it's just good that Mom and Dad saw symptoms to bring me in to the vet clinic. If it went on longer I could have been really sick. I don't feel great now, but I'm starting to get better.

Caninsulin... the insulin Mom has to give me every morning and night.
Right now we use these needles, but Mom is going to get a thing called VetPen so Dad can help too.

I'm practicing making this face a lot. Whenever I do, Mom snuggles me and gives me kisses.

It's only been a few days, but I've been trying to be good about taking the injections every day. I have to have a bigger dose in the morning, after I eat, and then a half-dose at night, also after I eat. The thing is, I'm not always hungry when I need to be to stay on that schedule -- Mom's been trying to help. She mixes enough food with some canned food so I eat enough before getting my injections, then leaves the regular dry food for me to pick at during the day if I want.

I like to sneak Atom's food sometimes. It's tiny, like little candies! But the doctor said I can't do that and Mom and Dad have to be extra careful about it. I also have to change to a different food. It's one with a prescription. Luckily, I can stick with Vet-Concept... Oh! Did I mention that? I was using the Hill's Metabolic Diet, but then I stopped enjoying it and Mom decided to switch to Vet-Concept like Atom gets. I was eating a Care Pack food from them, for older dogs... but now I'll start to switch to the prescription food for diabetic dogs. I hope it tastes good!

Mom can also get the low-fat canned foods to add to my morning and evening dishes, so I eat enough when it's time for injections.

Life changes are tough! 

They're tougher when you just want to make a change but have no real consequences for making or not making the changes... in this case, I have no choice but to change things in my life or I'll get more sick and probably die. I'm just not ready to go yet, so... change it is!