Pages 77 - 79
Timing Meals With Injections
To review, unlike diabetes in humans, it is uncommon for dog diabetes
to be well-controlled by simply adjusting the diet. Diet does, however,
still play an important role in the dog's care.
Chapter 7 described the importance of including high quality, species-appropriate
ingredients in the diet. It also discussed the concept of how consistency
from meal to meal can be achieved and how this will help regulate a dog's
insulin dosage and glucose levels. We will discuss the spacing of
meals in this chapter, as it is closely related to insulin activity.
Depending on the type of food, blood sugar begins to rise 1 to 2 hours
after a meal is ingested. Diabetic dogs typically do best when they
are fed 2, 3, or 4 small meals each day. These dogs maintain more
consistent blood sugar levels than those dogs fed only once a day.
Severe highs and lows in glucose can be dangerous for your dog. Occasionally,
a dog that is a finicky eater may have developed the habit of free-feeding,
or nibbling all day long. In most cases it is better to permit this
schedule.
The goal in feeding is to ensure that the dog has food in his system
when the insulin activity peaks. Dogs receiving two daily insulin
injections at 12-hour intervals should also receive two meals at about
12-hour intervals. Dogs receiving only a single insulin injection
should receive a main meal prior to that injection, but they too, will
benefit from several more meals spaced throughout the day.
Meals should be offered about 15 minutes to the insulin injection.
This is a slight departure from the routine followed by human diabetics,
but for good reason. Dogs with diabetes often suffer from other digestive
complaints. They vomit more readily than do humans. Feeding
the meal prior to injection helps ensure that glucose will indeed be available
when the insulin activity peaks. If insulin is injected and a dog
regurgitates his meal, it could result in dangerously low blood glucose
levels. Most dog owners are told to skip an insulin injection if
their dog does regurgitate a meal.
In addition to their main meals, diabetic dogs should also receive several
snacks during the day. One snack can be offered midway between breakfast
and dinner, and another one, just prior to bedtime. A typical schedule
might include breakfast at 7:00 a.m., a snack about noon, dinner at 7:00
p.m., and another small snack before bedtime. If your family is away
during the day, consider asking a friend or neighbout to drop by to offer
the dog a snack.
These feeding schedules are not set in stone, however, since each dog
responds differently to treatment, adjustments in feeding schedules and
insulin injections are common. Your schedule or your dog's metabolism
may require you to provide meals and insulin closer together, or farther
apart, than the average.
Discuss your needs and questions with your veterinarian. He should
be able to tell you (by performing a blood glucose curve test) the length
of duration insulin achieves in your particular dog. If you begin
home-testing your dog's blood glucose, you will be able to ascertain this
information for yourself.
end of excerpt
A question to Caroline
Caroline if I am homecooking what is a healthy small bedtime snack
that you would recommend that I give to my diabetic dog?
Caroline's Answer: coming soon check back for her answer
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