Diabetic Pet Basics All Owners Need To Know
Certain fundamentals apply to every diabetic pet, dog or cat, young or old. These are the things you need to know about the insulin you administer to control his diabetes mellitus.
Schnauzers make up a large percentage of diabetic dogs. These basic rules also apply to diabetic cats.
- Insulin is delicate. Regardless of the type, it must not shaken, dropped or otherwise roughly handled. Even today’s genetically engineered insulins are made of crystals, and those crystals must be intact. They will not perform their function in the body if the crystals are broken. If your pet’s diabetes mellitus is well-controlled, then becomes uncontrolled, and you suspect that your current bottle of insulin may have been mishandled, it may be worthwhile to purchase a new container of insulin. To evenly distribute the insulin in the container, lay it on its side and roll the bottle back and forth or around and around.
- Insulin is temperature-sensitive. It is best stored in the moderately-cold part of your refrigerator. That means on a top shelf. Today’s genetically-engineered insulins are more tolerant of being out of the refrigerator, but don’t interpret that to mean you can be sloppy with it. Make a point to be prompt with insulin’s return to the refrigerator.
- Insulin must be dosed accurately. Take the time to turn on a light and get your glasses. The lines on insulin syringes are tiny, and many diabetic dogs and cats take fewer than ten units of insulin at a time. Being off by one unit in a 10-unit dose is 10% error!
- Insulin must go in the right place. Use a three-finger technique to lift the skin, then give your injection at the base of the pyramid you’ve created. That will prevent you from administering a “hair shot” of insulin when the needle goes all the way through the skin. If that happens, and you are unsure of how much, if any, insulin went into your pet, you need to call your veterinarian to ask him whether to repeat the dosage. There is no blanket answer to this question that is right for all pets in all situations.
- Get it over with. Once you have the needle in the right position, push it in all at once. Don’t dilly-dally. Insulin syringe needles are intentionally small to minimize pain, but the longer you take to put the needle in, the more potential for hurt.
- Aspirate to know where the needle is. When you have inserted the needle, quickly pull back on the plunger (aspirate). If you are inside the body, pulling back will be difficult. If you have gone all the way through the plunger will pull back easily and the syringe will fill up with air. If that happens, take the needle out, evacuate the air from the syringe, and try again. On the other hand, if you aspirate and see blood, remove the needle, throw that dose away and get a new dose of insulin. Never inject insulin into the bloodstream.
- Feed your pet at the time of each injection and again two hours later, unless your pet’s doctor has advised a different feeding schedule. Doing so allows there to be some food in the body for the insulin to “work on” when it reaches its peak effectiveness. Also, feed only the diet your veterinarian has recommended, usually a low-carbohydrate, moderate-protein, high-fiber food. Pets do not require variety in their diets. Your pet will be satisfied eating the same food day after day. Changing his food will alter his insulin requirement and cause problems for him.
- Have a ready source of sugar available at all times. Low blood sugar can kill your diabetic dog or diabetic cat in a matter of minutes. High blood sugar may take days or weeks to be fatal. If your pet is staggering, weak and won’t eat, and you suspect that you may have given too much insulin, a quick dose of Karo syrup or other concentrated sugar source may solve the problem. If you have the ability to take a glucose reading at home, test first. When in doubt, give the sugar. If performed infrequently on the conscious pet, it rarely hurts. If your pet is comatose, rush him to the nearest source of emergency care, and have a friend call to let them know you are coming.
- Things that can cause your pet’s diabetes to become disregulated include any inflammatory process and any source of corticosteroids. Initially you may think of “big” doses of oral or injectable steroids as the only possible culprits, but even eye ointments and topical creams or sprays may cause some diabetics’ blood sugar to become elevated. If your previously-regulated pet begins to drink excessively, urinate excessively, eat too much or eat too little, call his veterinarian. The most common source of inflammation that causes problems is
urinary tract infection, but a cat-bite abscess, respiratory tract infection or skin disease may also interfere with blood glucose control. - Spread insulin injections around. Don’t give the insulin in the same place time after time. I like to visually divide the body into seven sections, one for each day of the week. Give Sunday’s injection in the vicinity of the neck, morning injection on the left, evening injection on the right. Move 1/7th of the way down the body on Monday, etc. Some dogs and most cats are more sensitive in the rear 1/3rd of the body, so you may have to divide the front half into sevenths.
You may wish to print out these basics so that you have them handy.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
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