Pets with Diabetes: Molly's Story

We have a beautiful Border Collie, 'Molly', who is approximately 6 years old; I say approximately because we adopted her nearly 3 years ago from our vet who found her. He at that time estimated her age, and she was diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes as well as severe cataracts, leaving her with about 30% vision. Since my husband is diabetic, we knew we could give Molly a good home and try to keep her diabetes under control.

Molly started on Humulin NPH, and through the years we have had to adjust her insulin requirements due to fluctuation in weight, diet, etc. We take her on some walks, but she has free run of our back yard, and that seems to suit her well.

Up until about one month ago, she received one injection in the am, 12 units and she received two feedings a day of Science Diet Adult food. (We have a two year old daughter, so naturally her diet was not as stringent as we would have liked!!) In March of 2001, Molly came down with what appeared to be a sinus infection, complete with nasal discharge, sneezing, coughing; the whole works. She initially received two courses of antibiotics, but our vet was reluctant to keep her on any prophylactic regimen for fear of kidney problems, etc. So, poor Molly suffered through the summer with sneezing, runny noses, and became unbelievably patient at having her nose wiped! I lost track of how many times we took her to the vet to have tests and x-rays done, and sometimes, or not, she would be given another round of antibiotics. Finally, in October my husband and I suggested perhaps having her BG tested while we were out of town for 5 days, since she boards at the clinic. They found her bg to be very high-not a huge surprise with the infection. Another course of antibiotics; no change. Then over Thanksgiving, she had her bg monitored again, and our vet found that the NPH simply was not lasting long at all, regardless of the units. It was only lasting about 2-3 hours with bg readings as low as 111, then escalating up to 450 or higher, within 6 hours! Also, we had a pretty good idea that her bg was high because she lost 17 pounds within just a few months and her coat was becoming so brittle. So, we switched her insulin to Humulin L (Lente-Lilly brand), and her food as well. So now, she receives two feedings a day with Prescription W/D and 15 units of Lente in the am and 10 units 12 hours later. She is usually fed between 6:30-7am and 5:30-6pm. In the last month she has gained some weight back and her coat is getting healthy looking again. As of today, she is runny-nose free for about 4 days!

However, Sunday evening/early Monday morning about 12:45 am, she had a major seizure that probably last 2-3 minutes, that we assumed to be a hypoglycemic reaction. We tried to get glucose in her mouth, but she was biting down hard. Finally we were able to give her oral glucose (in tubes-works really well).

Molly has had a few occasions of mild insulin reactions that we have dealt with, using graham crackers or bread to treat it, but she seems to feel better within 15 minutes or so. This time was totally different. She lost control of her bladder, and was totally sweat-soaked. She couldn't stand up for about an hour, even after giving her 12 mg of glucose, a few cookies, 2 slices of bread and two bowls of her food. Finally after about 2 hours she was walking around. The next morning, I took her to the vet; no am insulin, but food again at 7am. Her bg at 8:30 was 60! After all that sugar, Yikes! So for the past two days she has been with the vet having her bg tested, and her bg is all over the place. She is within 140-220 in the am and then about 3:30 until 6pm her bg is 400 or higher. We don't know if her body is perhaps producing a slight amount of insulin that is kicking in, or if we need to again switch insulin regimens.

This is the low-down on Miss Molly. We want to do everything we can for her; we just love her so much.

-- Contributed by Kim

	Molly's Story