Please help! I have an urgent question about my mothers diabetic dog!!

My mother has a toy poodle that has diabetes. She gets 5 units of insulin twice a day. When my mother gave her the insulin shot at dinner, she didn't get it all in, but was worried about giving her any more because she had to go to work. I just got home a few hours ago, and she doesn't seem to be feeling very good. She was just laying on the couch for an hour, and when I just put her on the floor a few minutes ago, her back end is very stiff and she's having a difficult time getting around. Her last insulin shot was around 7 hours ago, I can't get a hold of my mother, and she needs something, so would it be ok to give her half a meal, then half of her regular insulin dose??
Please help me, I don't know what to do.

I would call the vet or a er vet and ask what you should do.

all of the vets around here are closed. I don't think we even have an emergency vet around here. The vets office doesn't open until tommorow morning and they don't have any alternative numbers to call.

Thats terrible.
I wish I could help but I do not know much about diabetes in dogs.

Google emergency vets in your town.
From the description you provided, there is no way to know if you are dealing with diabetic ketoacidosis or insulin shock. Either can be a life-threatening emergency situation.

If you can't find one, try calling the local ER for humans and see if someone can help you.

Hi
I work with diabetic cats, not dogs. That said,
if you are not testing, do not give more insulin, Even though it did not all go in, you don't knoiw how much got in. There is a saying. Hyperglycemia can kill slowly. Hypoglycemia can kill in minutes
You can test a dogs blood sugar using a human glucometer. with a dog, i belive the test is one on the lip. That would let you know what is going on and would be able to let you know if a shot dould be tolerated
also, at least with cats, too much insulin can make the bg numbers go higher instead of lower. Lowering the dose can make the numbers alot lower. So we do not know if your dog's numbers are higher or lower then normal. Keep your eye out, Best of luck

I finally managed to get a hold of my mother last night, and she told me to feed her again, and give her 2 units of insulin, which is less than half of her regular dose. Within minutes of the shot she was back to herself so my mother must not have gotten it all in. Where can you get one of those glucose meters?? It would be a really good thing to have in case something like this happens again. Are they expensive??

You can get them at any walgreens etc. In fact, look around and you'll find that they have huge discounts on them and some cost like 10 bucks. I've seen them free.

If you weren't in Canada I'd send you one I've got. I ended up with 4 of them, 3 of those were free.

Look for coupons on them. The best deal I got was one that cost 70 bucks was discounted to 9 dollars. The manufacturers hope is you'll buy it and use their strips which will recover the initial loss of the meter.

Before you buy a meter, look at the cost of the strips.
Call the local hospital and ask if they have a diabetic educator. They can usually get you a free meter and some strips.

As Mom of 4 mentioned, the strips are the thing where they make their money. I recommend the true track meter from walgreens or cvs. it works just as well as the big names and the strips are less then half the price of most meters
best of luck

Originally Posted by Mom of 4

Before you buy a meter, look at the cost of the strips.
Call the local hospital and ask if they have a diabetic educator. They can usually get you a free meter and some strips.

Click to expand...

Meters here are free. The strips on the other hand cost upwards of $75.00.

oh my goodness. That is expensive for the strips. My mother said that she can tell whether or not the dog needs insulin or corn surup just by looking at her, but I told her it would be best to get a glucose meter.

True track strips run about $45 for 100 strips. The one touch runs over 100 bucjs for 100 strips The neter for the true track is usually 20 or less so it pays for itself real soon

I have dealt with diabetic cats for many years and believe me, I may have been right most of the time but there were plenty of times i would guess high and the number was low. Most of the time doesn't cut it, it only takes one overdose.