That's great you got Cee Cee to let you check her blood and give her insulin. You're a good mom. Aren't Chihuahuas fun? I have two rescue Chis. They are little drama queens and so, so funny, and cute as well as adorable and lovable.

Good to see you on here. Did you start this group? It's a great place.

Mzizgayle I am glad you found out that she is sick and needed help....I too am diabetic...I wondered about a dog I had before that was older if he was but never did find out....he went to rainbow bridge last year in jan....

I cannot imagine how expensive it is to treat this...I treat Shep for seizures....he takes two pills a day at like $45 month...plus the heartworm and flea tic stuff too so it is up to about $80 a month now...for all their considerable medications....

Cee Cee's insulin is 70.00 a month and that is because I order it from Smith & Foster and they ship overnight in an iced container. Her test strips for her meter are about 56.00 for 50 and i get 2 boxes since I sometimes test her more than twice a day (and a box of 50 0f course won't go a month) Needles from Walmarts 100 for 12.00

No special foods, no extra trips to vets, she get blood work done 3-6 months all the time because she is on metacam, so they will check her then.

Initial costs of course was for the alpha trak, for pets to test her and I got the autoject, which makes giving the shots a lot easier, she doesn't flinch or anything

so in a way she is pretty cheap compared to the humans since we caught this early and no damage to her kidneys, etc

$70 per month for insulin sounds high. Is she on Vetsulin? She needs a long acting insulin, humulin works just as well and would probably cost you about $12-$15 per month. She's not a big dog so I'm sure she's on 3-5 units once or twice daily. Vetsulin was recalled back in 2009 or 2010 for poor performance; dogs crashing and requiring more Vetsulin than they would with Humulin. Vetsulin woos many vet offices into selling their product. They sell the product to the vet for a cheap price and in turn the vet sells it for a much higher price; why? because they're selling through their office.

Watch for cataract problems. Some dogs aren't bothered with this once diagnosed with diabetes but it can creep up on you; out of nowhere. Also, watch for ketoacidosis; that'll run up some big dollars if she needs to spend the night at the vet's office.

Diabetes isn't fun for either people or pets but with the proper diet, it's all manageable. Poor little girl, so unfair. It's much easier to treat a dog than it is a cat though... I hope she continues to do well, sounds as though she's on a great start...

PD you know alot about this....thanks for helping out here...hugs bill

It's crazy that dogs are getting so many "human" diseases now a days. Was it something in her diet?

Bill, I had a Lhasa Apso that came down with diabetes. He declined very quickly. There was literally nothing that we could do. We tested him every day, administered the shots, special diet etc. He still just declined and that happens with some dogs. They're just never able to overcome the obstacle and for other dogs, they thrive just as they had before the diagnosis. We had so many overnight vet stays for him that were $800-$900 a month. Every month he spent a night at the vet's office for iv treatment to get the keytones regulated again. He had the cataract operations but he still lost his sight. This can happen and they did tell us that he may loose his sight anyway. We took the gamble.

I have a nursing background a long time ago so I'm familiar with monitoring glucose levels and administering shots. We also have a grandson that's a Type 1 diabetic that of course you need to monitor whenever he's visiting. He's 15 and he cheats if your not looking.... lol...

Gustokitty, diabetes is a result of the pancreas not producing enough insulin or no insulin. Type 2 diabetes can be managed with a diet and insulin but a Type 1 diabetic can not survive without daily injections sometimes 2-3 times per day. There's nothing that a person has done wrong when diagnosed with Type 1. There's no such thing as eating a poor diet or eating too much sugar that will bring on Type 1 diabetes. Type 2 can be brought on by obesity and in that case with a proper diet, they could actually come off of medications once their weight in brought down.

A proper diet for a diabetic dog is essential. Dog foods with a low glycemic ratio have less of a tendency to raise a dog’s blood glucose levels. So you want to make sure the dog is on a diet/food that's specific to managing diabetes.

It's one of those insidious diseases that I wish someone, anyone would come up with a cure for.

PD, a dog getting diagnosed at 12 yrs of age, likely does not have Type 1 diabetes, but thanks for the lesson.

Gustokitty; dogs do not get T1. It's referred to Diabetes Mellitus. It's treated with a long acting insulin. I was referring to a no fault lifestyle situation in reference to humans with T1 diabetes. There's nothing a human has done wrong when they've been diagnosed with T1. Only T2 in humans can be diet controlled with some people but not all diagnosed with T2.

CeeCee is on 4 units twice a day and then 2 extra units at night to take care of the rise of numbers to about 400 in the wee early hours in the morning - I say dawn effect, vet says could be not common tho in dogs. Cee Cee is now maintaining around 100-150 which is good for a dog, and yes she has cataracts and has had them. She is on Vetsulin and it costs me only 36.00 but the rest of the charge is the overnight packed in ice packs. Our vet feels since this is geared more for dogs and cats, even they have had great luck with it then trying a human insulin and for me it is working so why mess with a good thing LOL

I am a diabetic and mine came on since it is prevalent in my family, I ate healthy, very moderate type, heavy exercise, very active and not a bit overweight (120lb) so it is not necessarily being obese, not eating healthy etc, can it help contribute to it, well of course but not the main cause. Even being on steroids can cause it. It can be controlled with diet and exercise alone, I did for years, but this is a progressive disease and I ended up on metformin in 2005.

We all react differently to this disease as do the pets, makes it hard for that reason alone I think to take care of, but we that are affected become great detectives in this journey and people still do have some strange ideas of this disease but they are learning also

I am wondering what symptoms you dog gave that led you to look at diabetes? I know that drinking excessively is one sign but what others?

Bill, for me it was discovered with my dog when he started urinating in the house which wasn't like him. We noticed right away that it wasn't just urine, it was a sticky urine and it was hard to clean up. It was thick. They also become lethargic which was also another symptom in my dog. It came out of nowhere. And when I say he declined very quickly, I'm not kidding. No matter what we did, no matter how many overnight stays he spent at the Vet's office was never enough.

I've never felt that inadequate and inept before!

Hi Mzizgale, yes I agree. Type 1 and Type 2 are different. Type 2, your pancreas is creating some insulin, Type 1, the pancreas creates none. Type 1 is insulin dependent while Type 2 can be managed with diet, insulin, both or none at all if the patient looses proper weight or after giving birth etc.

I'm at a loss as to why some pets live long and happy lives after being diagnosed with diabetes and others just fail. I was one of the unlucky ones with my dog.

Of all the research I've done with Type 1 diabetes; I've not found anything definitive as to what exactly brings this on. There's no causative factor that I've found. With today's science, you'd think that someone would have discovered something by now! Course if they found a cure where would the pharmaceutical companies be without their insulin medications revenue. Makes me sick!

I have heard they are doing tests for type 1 with an artificial pancreas but doubt anytime soon, with the dogs it is a matter of catching it in time since diabetes for them creates so many issues right off the bat, cushings disease and the whole nine yards and as my vet said many dogs are not caught in time since it is hard to tell. Since I live it I was able to pick up on my gal and plus the fact she has reg blood work they could see.

Just like with humans, some of us are lucky to not have major complications, adjust quickly to meds, etc where as many humans must fight this everyday and so many issues - kidneys, eyes, heart disease.

I spend maybe 10 min more in my day to take care of CeeCee, my diabetes is well into control and have only minor neuropathy in my toes which has not progressed so I guess I have something good going on in life - now if the graves disease behaves, eyes settle down and hubby's serious issues would just go away LOL