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Dog Diabetes -
Romero Zombie
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So just found out my six year old dog has diabetes. Had went blind and lost a good amount of weight. Initially the vet was telling me it would cost about $400 a month for the rest of his life in insulin costs and follow up appointments. I found out I could get his insulin and syringes dirt cheap at Wal-Mart and from the sounds of it, the biggest cost will be the repeated vet appointments to get his glucose curve or whatever set up right.
I bought the insulin and syringes and gave him his first doses yesterday which he took like a champ. I'd like to avoid going to to the vet and spending $90 every 10 days just to have them monitor is blood sugar and saw a bunch of different test kits online. Any of you dealing with dog diabetes have any equipment they can recommend? I know I would need to buy the meter, test strips and lances, just not sure how often I need to test him. Some sites are telling me every two hours after a feeding until his next feeding and some sites suggest once a month.
Thanks in advance for the help
I bought the insulin and syringes and gave him his first doses yesterday which he took like a champ. I'd like to avoid going to to the vet and spending $90 every 10 days just to have them monitor is blood sugar and saw a bunch of different test kits online. Any of you dealing with dog diabetes have any equipment they can recommend? I know I would need to buy the meter, test strips and lances, just not sure how often I need to test him. Some sites are telling me every two hours after a feeding until his next feeding and some sites suggest once a month.
Thanks in advance for the help
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If you think your vet is trying to scam you, find a new vet. However, I think you are really selling short what diabetes actually is and what management of it involves. It's not like maintaining the ph in a swimming pool. The penalty isn't simply "can't ever have cake again". Managing the blood glucose with insulin is a part of treatment, but there are other things that need to be taken care of. Diabetic Neuropathies, Peripheral Vascular Disease, Kidney Disease or Renal Insufficiency. There are things that need testing you can't do with an accu-check strip at home.
It sucks, and it may be expensive at first, but don't shortcut this stuff. If the dog has already gone blind there's a lot more going on than being sleepy or having weight loss. Things that can cause real discomfort or outright agony. Its kind of up to you where you draw the line at quality of life benefit vs cost of care, but don't discount the severity of possible symptoms that would come with just using insulin and quasi-managing blood sugar.
Sorry for your situation, perhaps get a consult with a new vet and work out a full plan of care and sit down and really think it through.
I've experienced what seemed to be borderline predatory exploitation of how much I cared about a pet before. Excessive follow up appointments and such have had me finding a new vet after moving to an area. Especially with exotics. (I had chinchillas)
Where are you located? Maybe someone else has a recommendation.
charging for teaching you how to give shots and check blood is par for the course. they are taking the time that could be served treating/seeing patients to train you how to properly do a procedure on your dog.