We picked up our pup and found ourselves in the vet's office holding a box of needles and listening to the vet and tech tell us how to care for our diabetic puppy. We were sort of in shock! But we went to CVS, got insulin, gave her dinner and her first injection and she completely became herself again in about an hour! It's great to have her back to 'normal'. But this will take some getting used to. The injections haven't gone too smoothly yet since she doesn't sit still.
The vet also called an internal medicine specialist to talk about the case, since juvenile diabetes is so rare in dogs, and since this case was so sudden onset. We can go see him in the future. I will want to see him to ask if we can explore diet options. I heard that RAW can be good for diabetic dogs since it's low in carbs and sugars. Anyone here feed RAW to a diabetic dog?
To answer KZoppa's question, we did get her from a breeder, but I haven't had a chance to look up our health clause. It would be nice to get some sort of refund to help cover what this diagnosis has cost us, but I'm guessing it won't happen without trouble. In most cases, wouldn't you have to give the dog back to get a refund? That would not be a consideration!
On top of that, we're waiting for the results of an EPI test, suggested by the specialist. Since Shya's always been on and off diarhea, they think maybe her pancreas may not be producing enough digestive enzymes. It's another rare thing but more common in GSDs than other breeds. Since we know her pancreas isn't secreting insulin, it may also not be secreting enough of the other enzymes. Maybe she her pancreas just never developed right? That kinda explains everything so far... but I really hope this test is negative. We've got enough to deal with already.
Thanks Roxygsd for your stories. Sounds like you did an excellent job with Daisy. It's nice to hear from people with experience. And thanks for the Costco suggestion for insulin. The cost doesn't seem too crazy, but we will certainly try to get it down a bit. Insulin + needles is going to cost about $80 a month, which between that and the extra vet visits, kinda makes her cost twice as much now. Too bad, because we were planning on getting a second dog and we'll have to wait on that now.
We go to the vet next week to check blood sugar. Hope it's a smooth process of getting the right dosing.