I wanted to share another note I received from a diabetic pet owner: Dear Dr. Carol, You are so kind and dedicated to your field to even email me as a total stranger. I congratulate you for this- you are obviously one of the few whom are truly dedicated to your practice.
I am an emergency room, registered nurse of 27 years. It has been extremely hard on me and my husband this past year with Winston. When you are used to treating and healing others, it truly is hard when your own are sick and your hands are tied and you want to help. I never was comfortable with Vetsulin and wondered why not the other insulin. Felt like I could get a human’s insulin under control within hours, why can’t I get Winston’s better controlled? If only we were informed as soon as this FDA warning came out 11/2/09, this possibly could have been prevented. Whose responsibility is this? I think it is the manufacturer and the prescribing veterinarian and dispensing facility, whether the pharmacy or the vet’s office.
There is no rush for the surgery, I told my husband this. When we have the sugars stabilized and all the labs- renal and liver and cardiac are OK we will proceed. With his liver values for alkaline phosphatase being elevated in the 3000’s just in 7/09 we are fully aware of risks and will not proceed with cataract surgery till all is cleared. (I also see Ketamine is recalled.) Winston has a beef allergy so proprofol is contraindicated for sedation. Januay 18, 2010 is a penciled in date. We will not rush into this like they would like, it’s a shame it sometimes seems like all dollar signs. Besides putting down our Chocolate Lab, Hunter for HSA on 4/09, we have about $11,000 for Winston for Rat Bite Fever and more this past year.
I sent an email to our vet today of why did he sell us the Vetsulin on 12/9/09 and not tell us of this warning until we had a problem? I also challenged him of why he prescribed a 3 year Rabies vaccine and a 2 year distemper/parvo-virus vaccine to a 10 year old lab on prednisone 5 months ago? He was immune compromised and should not have been given vaccinations, let alone a extended one. Unfortunately I was not with them, my husband was and like most you trust what the vet tells you. Winston would not have steroid induced Cushings disease if he didn’t have this vaccination.
I am a bit nervous the vet will walk away from this as most do. The only hope I have is he has a history of kidney stones and I work in the local emergency room, as well as I got his son a volunteer job in our emergency room.
Thank you for your concern and advice, we will keep you posted.
Laurel C.
Hi Dr Carol,
First off thank you for all of the help you are providing owners that are making the switch from Vetsulin to NPH. Many of the vets do not have the experience to deal with this and your advice empowers us to help control the switch. We have a 14.5 lb Dachshund Tyler who has Cushings and Diabetes. He has not been under control for almost a year and still has high blood sugar readings of 300-400 regularly. I have asked the vet to take him off of Vetsulin and switched to NPH. The vet agreed to do this but also wanted to test him again for the Cushings. He was totally normal for the cortisol and we can even lower his dose of Trilostane. However, the Vetsulin has had no affect on his blood sugar levels. He is totally blind now. He was on 8 units of Vetsulin twice a day. They kept him at the vet today and did a glucose curve. He was at 350 when he left the vet at 5 pm. We were told to give him 4.5 units at 8 pm tonight. Day 2 we are told to give him 4.5 units at 8, 12 and 4. We are using The Diastix but have a question about the readings. The outside of the bottle does not have readings like your earlier post of 2, 1, -1, -2, etc. It is colors from light green (negative for glucose) to dark brown which goes from 1/10%, 1/4%, 1/2%, 1% to 2%. he is consistently reading dark brown after 30 seconds. I do not have the heart to stick him in the ear daily however we did buy a meter in case we need to use it occasionally. The Vet does not seem to think the urine testing is accurate. What are your thoughts on the insulin levels and how quickly should we move him to prevent further damage. I do not want him to crash and have more issues. Thanks, Ellen
Dear Ellen
I am not sure if your dog is still on Vetsulin. If you are using Vetsulin, you are wasting your time and need to switch your dog over to DNA based insulin ASAP.
I am posting an article shortly which explains how to adjust insulin dosages using urine Diastix which are easy, cost effective and accurate.
I am glad to help you personally and am available toll free at 1-866-372-2765.
Thank you
Dr Carol
Dear Ellen,
The dark brown Diastix color reflects positive urine sugar which means you need to increase your dogs insulin dose 2 units.
Because this is a problem for so many diabetic pet owners I am posting a new article on my blog today to help explain how to correlate Diastix urine sugar color readings and your dog and cats required insulin dosages.
Diabetic pet owners who would like personal help with insulin dosages and monitoring are welcome to contact our veterinary office toll free at 1-866-372-2765.
Thank you,
DR Carol