Managing diabetes is as much (or more) about the food as it is the insulin. So many vets just give insulin and attempt to adjust that to what the Australian Terrier is being fed. If the Australian Terrier is given a low carbohydrate food, just like when humans change their diets for diabetes, then the dog (and the human) will require less insulin and be more stable. You have to remember the vet gets more money the more insulin you have to buy from them. It is far healthier to change the dog’s diet and thereby reduce the need for so much insulin. Also, vets don’t usually tell you that on dogs (not recommended on humans!) you can use those needles more than once. In fact, I usually used mine at least 2-3 days and it never caused a problem.
I made my own Australian Terrier food for my diabetic and she only required 2-3 units of insulin twice a day. The last couple of years of her life she existed on 2 ½ cups/day of my turkey meatloaf with vegetables and quinoa. Before that it was an inexpensive cut of raw meat cubed with veggies and quinoa. That also made it far less expensive to manage and her blood glucose stayed very steady. The only treats she got were raw broccoli, green beans, green peppers, the occasional carrot, and a heavy whole wheat cookie at bedtime to offset the evening insulin. And I gave her a cat vitamin and milk thistle.
In some states both insulin and syringes require a prescription. In other states, neither does. Of course your vet wants you to buy your insulin, syringes, and prescription food from him. But you may choose to do your shopping for diabetic supplies on the open market or internet. If your state does requires a prescription then by all means ask your vet for these prescriptions and do some comparison shopping! In the early days all insulin was pork NPH. This was almost identical to the insulin made in Australian Terriers. Good for Australian Terriers but not too good for people. Then the pharmaceutical giants came up with recombinant DNA insulin, identical to human insulin, which was great for people and not too good for Australian Terriers. Then a company came up with Vetsulin, insulin just for Australian Terriers based again on the old pork NPH. This was great for dogs but then the FDA recalled it. The most common brand of insulin for dogs is now Humulin N or Novolin N depending on the manufacturer.
Eli Lilly makes Humulin N in the US but they also make the identical product for Wal Mart under the Wal Mart label. It can be gotten at any Wally World or Sam’s Club. My last bottle cost $24.95, not taxed in GA, and I use it for about 6 weeks. This is one-half the cost of the same product with the Lilly label on it purchased at a chain drug store. I order syringes from Site They have a whole section on pet testing and supplies.
I use lo dose U-100 syringes and a box of 100 costs $16.99 with about $5.95 for postage, and of course, I use them more than once. They also offer strip monitors and testing supplies on line at a discounted rate. I am told that some pharmacies like Walgreen’s and CVS will let you purchase a family plan drug card for the year and will include your pet’s needs on it as well. By shopping around one can keep the cost to a modest amount each month. I have never done home monitoring but do keep urine test strips in case I need to know if the glucose goes especially high or very low. I home cook and do not use any of the so called prescription diets and the diabetic dogs I have had in the house over a 40 year period ( one being a rescue) lived a normal life span, did not develop diabetic retinopathy and diabetes was not the cause of their deaths.
My first diabetic dog, Chelsey, was the love of my life. It was so difficult for me to know that each I day I was going to inflict pain on her. I started by doing her injections prior to her two meals and give her a kiss and told her “this is for life”. Chelsey would look up at me and then give me a kiss- “everything is OK”. I learned early on that the best way was to be consistent. I always fed and gave her injections at the same time every day. Yes, my life revolved aground where I would be between 6-7 AM/PM. How could I do anything differently because she gave me nothing but love and joy? Not knowing that Chelsey was going to become diabetic, I bred her and got two puppies: Daisy Mae and Li’L Abner. One day the day care person for my Mom allowed Daisy Mae and Li’L Abner get together when they shouldn’t have. This combination produced 2 puppies, Alley Oop and King Guz who both became old age diabetics.
I had bred Daisy Mae again and none of the puppies from that litter who are now 10 years old have become diabetic. All of the dogs from Chelsey have now been spayed or neutered and therefore that history is now over.Here is what I have done to allow me to live with three generations of diabetic Australian Terriers: My food is Eukanuba Lite. No treats. No other food. I would give them 1 cup of this food twice a day. At this time frame, several years ago, there was no food that was grain free. If I had a diabetic Australian Terrier now I would look into a food that had no grains included. If you are a human diabetic you are encouraged to reduce carbs, eat more protein, and exercise more. I believe (and I would like to emphasize that this is only my opinion) that if we do for our dogs what is recommended for humans we would be ahead of the game. I would take my dogs in about every six months for a glucose curve to ensure that the amount of insulin given was correct. You need to have confidence in the vet that you are seeing and have one that is interested in your ideas and thoughts on caring for your Australian Terrier.
Because I do not look forward to having another diabetic dog I have been far more conscientious in what I feed my growing Australian Terriers. It is difficult to live with a diabetic dog. It is more difficult that living with a normal dog, but you are giving back to that dog everything that he/she has given to you in the past. I do not regret any of the time that I gave to my diabetic Australian Terriers.
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