Diabetic Dog

Question
My do was drinking alot of water and throwing up small amounts of the water and she had a foul smell in her mouth.  So I took her to the vet.  He said that she had tumors, ear infections, pancreatitis and was possibly diabetic.  We have been working on the diabetes.  Her blood levels have been fluctuating rapidly.  My question is could her pancreases not be kicking in because her diet consist of almost  no sugar.  I have noticed that when i give her a little bit of foods that contain small amounts of sugar her blood glucose level is reduced between 60-100 in the am that is after she had insulin the pm before on a 12 hr intervals. My vet has been wonderful however, we have been trying to get her blood glucose leveled out for a month 11/7/12.  Again my question is could her pancreaus not be kicking in because of lack of sugar.  i had mentioned that my vet said that she might be diabetic.

Answer
Hi,

Thanks for writing to me.  Rather than increase the amount of sugar you are giving your dog, reduce the amount of insuling that she is getting.  Of course you must discuss this with your vet so that you can control your dog's sugar levels.  Also, adding cinnamon capsules and Chromium to her diet will help control her blood sugar.  You will have to monitor her carefully to make sure that her blood sugar is within the normal range.  

I would suggest slowly shifting to the bones and raw food diet, commonly known as BARF.  This is the most natural diet on the planet for a dog (wolves do not eat cooked food) and there are numerous websites and yahoo groups that deal in this..and likely on facebook as well.

You can also contact Dr Conrad Kruesi at Cold River Vet and work long distance with him on nutrition and suppliments.  That is his focus and he's helped many dogs to get well.

I would not ignore the pancreatitis but again, the BARF diet would be helpful. I would stay away from any kind of grains or vegetables.

Another thing you can add for the stomach/digestive issues is a product called VSL #3.  You can get this at www.vsl3.com/  It is not cheap but it is very effective.  I would also add Prozyme, Glutamine Powder to her diet.

Best of luck,
Shelley Davis

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