Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
She's still doing well and energetic...but today we discovered some severe anemia and her glucose was way off. She had been eating less and less and consuming more and more water until it peaked this morning where she ate nothing last night and turned down even a piece of doggie bacon after her walk. She proceded to drink almost a complete large bowl of water and then throw up a lot of it.
She has been constantly peeing and drinking which started coincidentially when we began giving her fiber for constipation. My wife stopped the fiber last week and when the drinking then continued we knew something was up.
On the cancer front (she lost her leg to separation anxiety, the cancer was a separate event), she's doing ok. She had an ultrasound today and the only thing of concern were her kidney's looked a bit off (I can't remember the diagnosis, but it's something that is not serious but to watch, nothing showed on her blood work which is a good thing).
She recovered fine after her splenectomy. There is a tumor in her lung, but it's not changed much in the past three months and doesn't seem to be affecting her. She's 12 so doing open-chest surgery may not be in her best interests.
We are focused on quality of life for her and one of the biggest blows will be no more treats and set meal times (plus insulin)...I see there are diabetic dog cookies and other things, is there anything we can give her in moderation? She is a very food focused dog...her weight is not too bad, maybe 1-2 lbs over now. She was 7-8lbs overweight when we got her. We treat her only a couple times a day...usually when we are eating and when we get home from work.
Any other suggestions would be great. We are scheduled to go back in two weeks for a followup blood panel. We are hoping the red blood cell count comes up...there is a possibility the cancer is in the bone marrow.
Thanks
Foxy | Golden Ret./Corgi Mix | Born on Date ~1999 | Tripawd mode – 10/02/2009 | RIP - 03/05/2012
Hopefully Dr. Pam (aka: tazziedog) can provide a professional veterinary opinion. We did notice, however, that one of our affiliates Vetionx makes an all natural diabetes supplement for dogs. You can call them toll-free at 877-255-2909 for more information.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I was hoping for a better update on Foxy. I'm sorry to hear she is not doing as well. But gosh, look at how she has done!!!
Can she eat yogurt (plain - not the ice cream kind)? We have been mixing water and yogurt and freezing it. Or maybe canned dog food mixed with water and frozen? Or even cottage cheese?
Wishing you the best for good test results coming up.
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
I am not sure if plain yogurt is ok for her or not now. She does like it though.
Foxy | Golden Ret./Corgi Mix | Born on Date ~1999 | Tripawd mode – 10/02/2009 | RIP - 03/05/2012
I know there's not a lot of diabetic pups here, so I put your question in our Facebook page, hopefully others there will have good advice.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Baby carrots can be your friend. All of my sugar babies (I have rescued 7 of them in the last 10 years) have gotten carrots for treats. Also if she is on a prescription diet, you can use some of the kibbles or bake some canned food and use for treats. The water consumption will decrease as the insulin starts to work. My diabetics always get milk thistle (herb) to help with liver support.
I don't log on much as my tripawd went to the bridge in 2005 after being 5 years post op, after being diagnosed with grade 3 MCT on his hock.
LVT Lee
Northern Nevada
In general with diabetes you want to avoid carbs so dehydrated chicken strips or liver treats work well. You can make your own but if you purchase treats make sure that there is not any added salt or sugar.
Pam
Update:
Last couple days she turned downward and around the house has a hard time walking and balancing. This afternoon she was fully limp. We added a 'lunch' and her facial expressions lit up again and she had some tail-wagging going.
She was able to walk outside after her morning meal today and actually walked more than normal (we took her to the park rather than just around the block). After about 3 hours she shut down. Couldn't stand, I am not sure if she actually didn't have any extremity numbness going on as well.
We are taking her back to the vet tomorrow, i reduced the insulin back down to the 10 units (vs 18) we gave her the first day. It may be just a coincidence but after starting the 18 units is when this happened. She had two glucose readings on 18 units that read 'decent', she was 1 'point' higher than normal in the morning and 1 point lower than normal in the evening (I want to say 76 and 106 respectively as far as the test results). I am still worried her glucose is dropping too low now.
I have ordered an AlphaTrak Pet glucose meter as none are sold locally, the vendor is 20 mins from my office so I am hoping I can just pick it up tomorrow. If not I choose over night shipping anyway. I am aware that people meters can be ok to use, but you need to compare the results to your vet's to make sure. People with cats seem to have the best results, I didn't want to take any chances so just went with the pet designed one.
The recipe we ended up with is below…no one we could find around us carried rye so we used barley (I understand the gluten debate and potential allergies), it's not as calorie-dense and has only about 1/4 the fiber. I am going to try and find some rye around where I work (larger city) tomorrow.
We are feeding her 1cup 2x a day now (not counting the extra 3/4 cup lunch we gave her today). We will back it down to 3/4cup 2x a day if she pulls through.
The person that posted the original recipe was actually able to reduce their insulin usage with the diet.
My wife and I tried it :), it's not that bad but would be much too plain for a person. We are also using fat-free and extremely low-sodium (180mg vs 480mg low sodium and 1000mg normal) broth…we used bottom round for the lean beef and trimmed any visible fats and spooned off the grease while boiling.
The basic recipe is 25% protein, 25% veggies, and 50% complex carbohydrates.
1 1/8 Cups chopped carrots
3/4 Cup chopped celery
1/3 bunch of fresh broccoli
4 oz package of fresh spinach
2 pounds of lean beef cubed (sirloin tip roast)
1 1/8 Cups rye (uncooked)
…subsituted 1 cup barley
1 1/2 Cups brown rice (uncooked)
64 oz liquid (1/2 beef broth and 1/2 water)
Simmer the beef in the liquid and garlic for approximately 20 minutes. Remove the beef.
If using rye, add the rye. Bring to a boil cover and simmer rye for 40 minutes. Then add the rice, cover and simmer another 15 minutes.
If using barley, add the rice and barley then follow cooking instructions for rice.
Let stand until the liquid is absorbed. In a large container mix the veggies, still raw with the meat. Then pour the hot rice and rye over the veggies and mix it well. The hot rice steams the vegetables and you don't lose vitamins or nutrients from cooking.
Foxy | Golden Ret./Corgi Mix | Born on Date ~1999 | Tripawd mode – 10/02/2009 | RIP - 03/05/2012
Foxy, we really really really hope this food perks you up. It sounds pretty tasty!
Thanks for posting the recipe, I know others will find it very useful someday.
We send our love out to you for a hearty rebound. Please let us know what happens tomorrow OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Garlic is mentioned above, we don't use it since she has anemia. sirloin tip roast is mentioned, but we are using a leaner bottom round cut.
Foxy | Golden Ret./Corgi Mix | Born on Date ~1999 | Tripawd mode – 10/02/2009 | RIP - 03/05/2012
Update: The vet prescribed stanozolol on Tuesday to be given every third day (for the low red blood cell count which had improved alot since the insulin and her eating again)…Wednesday she seemed to be a lot like her normal self. I also got my AlphaTrak pet glucose monitor in and have been able to track her glucose.
We were able to fine-tune the insulin much better than trips to the vet. We have reduced it from 18 units to 10 now. So far her highest post meal was 287 (2 hours after) and now 4 hours after down to 119…the 'normal' range on my strips are 123-185.
I think I am going to try to source rye instead of barley. The rye has 4 times the fiber in it and may slow that glucose rise post mealtime. I am worried about that 287, however; I have read if it's brief and just a peak…not so much to worry about.
I will recheck her prior to her morning meal at 6:30am.
She was walking very well today after her dinner and even stopped to roll around in the grass. She seemed to know she was feeling better.
To think only about a week ago we though she was on her last day is pretty amazing. I am hoping the next dose of the steroid tomorrow helps bring her up to speed more. Friday I am bringing her in for a full blood panel which will show more info than my simple glucose meter and how her blood count is doing.
EDIT: for this evening.
Pretty amazing tonight, ran to the door when my wife got home and then myself later. Was begging vigorously for food (getting up on her hind legs), rolled around in the grass on her walk and later in the carpet and in circles a bit all excited.
We still are concerned that 1 hour or so after eating she breathes heavy and just lays down ... her glucose level is in the normal to high range at this time and then goes quickly to lower end on the normal range and has been that way when we feed her in the morning.
Foxy | Golden Ret./Corgi Mix | Born on Date ~1999 | Tripawd mode – 10/02/2009 | RIP - 03/05/2012
1 Guest(s)
