Recently the topic of diarrhea came up with a dear human friend. It’s not something folks typically discuss in polite company, unless you are a veterinarian. We veterinarians deal with the issue of diarrhea on a daily basis with our patients. Of course I teased my friend with the problem, “Did you get into the trash […]
I love getting emails from our readers. Sometimes they are so good I share them. Let’s jump right into two recent email interactions I’ve had as you may have had similar questions about underweight diabetic dogs or test strip storage.
Do you have specific diet recommendations for thin diabetic dogs? I’ve read a few of your articles […]
Some of the questions I get are worth sharing. These are real life questions from our readers. Your emails are the inspiration for most of my articles and certainly the “Ask Dr, Joi” series. Keep ’em coming! […]
Question: My vet put my diabetic dog on probiotic. Should my other dog also be on probiotic?
This may be a long answer! In general, probiotics are safe and do some amazing things in our bodies. There are several situations where we know that probiotics speed recovery and promote health in dogs and cats, but more studies […]
I had out of town visitors last week. That's what happens when you live in sunny south Florida in the winter. It was a long week. I did have ONE good house guest last week, however. It was Max, the newly diagnosed diabetic cat.
I made a new friend this week. Maximus is a 14 year-old charming orange tabby cat. His human noticed Maximus losing weight over the last month. Max apparently was never one to miss a meal before recent weeks.
You've studied the disease. You've purchased a glucose meter. You altered your schedule to ensure someone is home every 12 hours to give your diabetic pet insulin. And you run periodic glucose curves. A surprising perception of some diabetic pet owners is that the pet's blood glucose is the same day to day.
In over 2 decades of practice, I don't recall many skinny diabetic pets. Sure, oftentimes a diabetic pet might lose a dramatic amount of weight at the onset of disease, but most often these pets started off tubby.
This week I received a question for a reader asking what medications can affect insulin and glucose regulation. Heaven knows I harp at you all about avoiding steroids in diabetic pets often enough, but are there other medications that can derail a diabetic? Nothing came to mind, but I figured I’d investigate.
This week one of our readers wrote in that she recently moved and is now using a multi-doctor practice in her new town. She said her prior vet’s humorous yet brief advice regarding diet was, “Don’t feed donuts” to her diabetic dog. At her new hospital they were strongly advising her to change to a prescription […]