Diabetes in Dogs - Update in Comments

[lavenderblue]

If your dog has been diagnosed with Diabetes, what were the signs and symptoms? What about treatment after diagnosis?

My girl is 9 and has always been overweight. She has recently lost a bit of weight and has also had a few skin tags pop up. More recently I've noticed that she has been drinking a ton more water and can't hold her bladder and has been having accidents overnight. I did Google and these things may or may not be signs of Diabetes, She also threw up this morning. She's always had a weak stomach, but all of these things combined is making me worried. 

I do have a call in to a Vet to have her seen. Unfortunately our old Vet retired abruptly, so I'm trying to find somewhere that has openings for new patients and can see her asap. 

[circa1978]

Ours was diagnosed when she got cataracts really quickly. Her weight actually stayed more or less the same until the end of her life and she was always a touch accident prone.

[rachers]

I’m so sorry.

Our Pom Moose had diabetes. He was 13 when it started. He was similar - drank lots of water and had insane amounts of accidents. His weight never really fluctuated but his eyes did start to give out and he had cataracts.

We had about a year of giving him insulin shots twice a day and medication. He started having seizures which led to his unfortunately having to put him down.

It’s hard seeing your fur babies struggle. 😞

[lindyanne]

Our dog had the exact symptoms you mentioned. He was 14 so at first we dismissed it as old age because the thirst wasn’t as prominent. We did start treatment with food and injections IIRC (it’s been 10+ years) but he declined otherwise rather quickly after that so he wasn’t on it long.

[EvieEthelGarland]

None of my dogs have had diabetes, but I do. Those are classic signs. The addition of vomiting would have me taking my dog to emergency.

[fernweh]

One of our past dogs had it. He wasn’t diagnosed until he started having seizures. He was overweight but didn’t have any other classic symptoms.

[midwestmama]

I don't have personal experience, but my former boss had a dog that became diabetic. (We talked about our dogs frequently.) The first signs were excessive thirst and not being able to hold its bladder for long periods of time (e.g., overnight). It also started to go blind. My boss had to give her dog daily insulin injections. I don't remember if the dog had a special diet after diagnosis.

[dexteroni]

I’m sorry your pup isn’t feeling well. The combination of symptoms *may* be diabetes related, but each of them can also indicate other things, or nothing. Skin tags can and do occur in dogs (and people) without diabetes. Drinking more water and having to go to the bathroom overnight are classic signs of a UTI in female dogs. Definitely take her in, because something is wrong, but I wouldn’t go in looking only for diabetes. Just present all of her symptoms and the vet will know what conditions to look for.

Were you doing regular bloodwork before your vet retired? Every vet we’ve gone to has done what they call senior bloodwork twice a year starting at age 7 or 8. If you have access to those records, you can check her past glucose tests. It doesn’t usually skyrocket suddenly, so you would see it rising slowly. If you have never done senior bloodwork, I would definitely get her started on that. It will include blood glucose among other things, and will help you prevent or detect other things that may arise as she ages. I hope she’s feeling better soon!

[lavenderblue]

Thank you all for responding. When I got home from work last night she had blood in her urine so off to the Emergency Vet we went. Of course I googled, and I found that UTIs are very common in dogs with diabetes due to the frequency of urination. And sure as shit I was right. They tested her blood sugar and confirmed that she is in fact, diabetic, and they also confirmed that she had developed a UTI. So we left with antibiotics and a prescription for a lifetime of insulin. Hopefully we can get her blood sugars under control in the next few days so she can start feeling back to her old self.

[dexteroni]

I’m glad you got some answers! I hope she’s feeling better soon. That’s interesting about UTIs and diabetes, and good to know.

[rachers]

I’m glad you got answers!

Also make sure you have a good supply of needles (if yall are having to do shots). We had a hard time finding them at one point during the pandemic, and eventually found some at our local tractor supply store. Sorry, just a thought thinking back to our experience!