by Timo » Wed 27 Nov 2013, 16:23:18
Not to belittle anyone's personal experiences with diabetes (trust me, i'm not), i'm relatively new to the entire disease, and have been forced to educate myself on its causes and treatements. As far as that goes, the volume of information regarding this desease just goes on and on and on and on and......... I don't have diabetes, but 6 months ago, my Newfie (sorry Newfie) was diagnosed with diabetes, which in dogs, is more similar to Type 2 in people. Being a Newfoundland, she's a big girl, and topped out at 115 lbs. I've never had a dog that big before, and her breed is naturally that big, so i never thought anything about her weight until she suddenly could not walk. Anyway, several years ago, she also had imunothrombocytopenia (i hope i spelled that right), or ITP for short. That disease is when the body's own immune system attacks the platelets in the blood. Normal platelet levels for her were suppose to be in the 400,000 range, and she was down to the single digits. So, we had to dose her up with Cyclosporine for 9 months to shut her immune system completely down. Those meds aren't cheap!!! But, that did solve her problem at that time. Now, for something completely different: Diabetes!!! And, a natural side-effect of diabetes is neuropathy, which, after more research, can be successfully minimized with a vitamin B-12 supplement, which ironically has cyanide. Still, 21 units of insulin, and another 20 units of Cyanobolomine, 2X day, coupled with 650 calories each time, and she's almost back to complete normal! And under 100 lbs, too. The only real difference in her now is the gradual appearance of cataracts. Does anyone have any personal experience with that aspect of diabetes?