Does anyone have any experience with a dog with diabetes? My in-law's 6 yr. old male dachshaund was just diagnoised with it and we are trying to gather info from wherever we can on it. I know this isn't exactly a "homesteading" question but since I feel right at home here on this forum, I thought I'd ask here.

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), February 23, 2001

Answers

I am thankful that all my advice in this arena is second-hand. However, I have an excellent dog/cat health book -- Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats -- that has some advice.

As you likely already know, diabetes comes about because of a lack of insulin that the pancreas should be producing, but isn't. You will have to give the dog injections daily derived from other animals' glands, but much can be done to control the problem through diet. Most vets put the dog to a diet restricted to canned food, however, Pitcairn's state that absolutely avoid any of the cellophane-bagged soft-moist dog foods that don't need refrigeration, as they are very high in sugar carbohydtates as preservatives.

They suggest that diabetic dogs they have treated have generally done well on basic fresh and raw natural good diets, given as 2-3 meals daily to balance out blood sugar levels, same as for humans. Several meals during the day rather than one, and the natural foods seem to stabilize the insulin they state. In cases of severe diabetes, in addition to strict avoidance of foods with sugar, low fat intake is also highly neccessary (The pancrease produces enzymes particularly involved in the breakdown of fats.

They recommend supplementing natural foods with 1 Tablespoon of brewers yeast per meal (the chromium in the yeast assist using blood glucose effectively), and 25 to 200 IU of Vitamin E every day.

Foods that are particularly beneficial for diabetes are millet, rice, oats, cornmeal, and rye bread. Excellent vegetables are green beans (pods contain hormonal substances closely related to insulin), winter squash, dandelion greens, alfalfa sprouts, corn, parsley, onion, Jerusalem artichoke, and garlic. Garlic is useful to reduce blood sugar in diabetes, and also stimulates the abdominal viscera and increases digestive organ function -- use fresh or in capsules.

Milk and milk products are helpful because they are alkalizing (as with vegetables and fruits) which helps to counter overacidity. They are best fed raw, as are meat, eggs, fruits, and some vegetables, because uncooked foods are much more stimulating to the pancreas. Fruits in season are fine if acceptable to your animal, natural fruit sugar (fructose) can be used by the diabetic animal. Feed them seperately from other foods.

Homeopathically, Phosphorus 6X is useful for some dogs with diabetes. They tend to have ravenous appetites with a tendency towards being overweight. There may be a history of pancreatitis.

If you are interested in his diet recommendations, and the schedule for the homeopathic treatment, email me and I'll give you what other information they have on it. I'm sure with the numberof diabetics on the forum that many of them will have additional helpful suggestions.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), February 24, 2001.

This is not something to fool with. We have two cats with diabetes. They both get injections twice a day. Talk to your Vet, he will give you a precription for insulin and needles. For the cats we use the same needles that humans use and get them at the drug store along with the insulin. There has been no problem since they have been on the insulin(two years now), but this is not the type of thing you want to experiment with home rememdies.

-- DAvid in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), February 24, 2001.

Um, David, I think you missed my point on this. The first part of my post says that you will have to give insulin injections. The rest comes about in control of the sugar peaks and valleys in diet and makes the insulin work more effectively. This advice comes from two veterinarians, experienced in treating such, and I thought that it would be helpful based on my experiences with three family members with diabetes, and two friend's dogs.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), February 24, 2001.

Just wanted to thank everyone for all the valuable information. We almost lost "Rusty" the other day. He spent several days in the critical care unit and seemed to be going downhill each day until yesterday. He has bounced back (but is still not out of the woods yet). Dr. seems to have the amount of insulin he'll need figured out now and Rusty is eating now and is able to keep it down. It has been a long scarey week. Thanks again to all who have responded. I have passed all this information on to my in-laws. you all are a great bunch of caring folks and I just can't thank you enough. When I told my mother-in-law that I posted a question about diabetes in dogs on this site and then told her I had a response the very next day, she couldn't believe it. She was very impressed with the site.

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), March 02, 2001.