Nubia Diabetic/Thyroid/Cushings

Question
My dog was obese and drank water like crazy and peed all the time. Now she is on 1 insulin injection a day and thyroid meds for underactive thyroid.  She is now very skinny and wants to eat all the time.  She is still thirsty all the time and pees all the time. She is partially blind. She has been getting these lumps on her legs. She goes on walks everyday, has good energy. Vet told me she may also have Cushings.  What do you suggest I do.  I know that the blood work is what i need. However, I am REALLY REALLY BROKE right now and I can't afford it right now.  I do want to help her I can afford the meds, but the blood work tests are the ones that I don't have enough for, I don't know if maybe she needs more insulin or if it is the Cushings that also needs to be treated.  Any suggestions? I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Zoya

Answer
Diabetes can be a challenging disease to treat, especially when the dog also has Cushings disease. However, insulin is most often used twice daily to control diabetes and not once daily. It is very rare that a dog can be controlled on once daily insulin. I would suggest that your dog may not be well regulated and requires more insulin and on a twice daily schedule. You must NOT make any changes to the insulin yourself but need a veterinarians guidance based on blood sugar levels. Your dog really needs to have a glucose curve done which means spending a day in the hospital having  her blood sugars checked at various times during the day. based on these results the insulin dose is modified. If your vet does not perform this type of analysis, find one that does.

If your dog truly has Cushings Disease then only when that is treated will you get better control of her blood sugars.

Also not a bad idea to have her thyroid level checked because her dose of thyroxine may be too high now that she has lost all the weight.

Dr. G.