Proper regulation of a diabetic dog involves pet owners monitoring and calculating sugar and insulin dosages twice a day at home. Consider learning how to make a glucose curve for your diabetic dog. This is very helpful and will provide you and your vet with valuable information. You can monitor sugar level trends and follow your pet’s sugar levels accurately and cost effectively.

To Make Your Pets Personal Sugar Curve:

Take a piece of notebook paper and write down the date each day. Place the dates vertically down the left side of the paper. Across the top of the paper, mark down the time of day, urine sugar reading, and the dose of insulin you have given every morning and every evening.

You can also add a box at the end of each day to mark down any important signs you noticed in your pet that day such as appetite, energy levels, attitude, water consumption, frequency of urinating, etc. Whenever you visit your vet bring your chart along and review it with your vet. Once you make your pet’s sugar curve chart, be sure to post it in a convenient place like your refrigerator door. This way everyone in your family will be on the same page when it comes to your pets insulin dosages.

How to Determine Proper Insulin Dosage:

To determine the proper insulin dosage, simply match the color of your dog’s urine to the numeric value on the Diastix strip. This is vital to try to minimize further internal organ damage and preserve what, if any, vision is left before cataracts occur. It is important to remember that your goal each day with the urine Diastix is a reading of “trace.” Each time you get a reading of “trace”, that means you are doing a great job and you just repeat the previous insulin dosage! If the Diastix reads minus 1, reduce the insulin dose by 1 unit. If the Diastix reads minus 2, decrease the dose by 2 units. If the Diastix reads plus 2, increase the insulin dose 2 units, if the reading is plus one, increase the insulin dose one unit. It is important to remember that you NEVER, ever increase or decrease the insulin dosage by more than 2 units.

It is always a good idea, to keep a jar of honey or karo syrup handy just in case your diabetic dog looks dazed or seems “wobbly” after you’ve given insulin. These are signs that the insulin dose was too high and as a result your pet’s blood sugar is too low. We call this hypoglycemia. If this occurs, rub a teaspoon of the honey or karo syrup directly into your pets gums. It is immediately absorbed through the gums and enters the blood, raising the blood sugar level almost instantly. Returning the blood sugar back to a normal level makes your pet feel much better and avoids a hypoglycemic or low blood sugar crisis.

Example of a Daily Routine:

The daily home routine for most diabetic pets is as follows: You wake up, take your pet outside and collect the first morning urine. Use the Diastix and get a urine sugar reading so you know what dose of insulin to give. Feed your pet 1/3 of his breakfast, give the proper amount of insulin, and then give your pet the remainder of his or her breakfast. Repeat the same procedure in the evening.  If your pet does not eat the first part of his or her meal before it’s time for you to inject the insulin, this is a sign that something is wrong. If this happens, do not give any insulin, call your vet.

Dr. Carol’s Tip: Cut each urine test strip in half longitudinally, turning 50 Diastix into 100 and cutting your cost in half!  We have enjoyed success in many of our diabetic canine patients using the above formula along with home-made organic diets and a natural, patented canine vitamin-supplement.

Holistic veterinarian and pet health researcher,  Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM., is available for pet health questions and pet health consultations for dogs and/ or cats.
Contact Dr. Carol’s veterinary office toll free at 1-866-372-2765 to make an appointment for your dog and/or cat today.

Looking for a great low fat, low sugar dog treat?  Try making your dog carrot and hummus cookies, safety guaranteed by Dr Carol. Recipe: courtesy of Ana and her diabetic dog Xena.

Ingredients:
16 ounces Chick Peas (also called garbanzo beans),
1 pound beef liver steaks,
1 bag of organic carrots,
4 cups of distilled or filtered water,
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil,
Mandolin or Sharp Knife for slicing very thin carrot slices

STEP ONE: Place 4 cups of filtered water and the 16 ounces of chickpeas to soak for 24 hours in a large cup or bowl. Soaking allows the chick peas to absorb water which hydrates them so that they become soft, which results in a delightful creamy hummus.

STEP TWO: Sear the 1 pound beef liver steaks with 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil in a sauté pan. Sear both sides until fully cooked.

STEP THREE: Drain the water from the 16 ounces of chickpeas that soaked overnight and discard the water.

STEP FOUR: Ideally using your food processor, pulse mix the chickpeas until they look creamy. There is no need to add additional water.

STEP FIVE: There you have it! The raw hydrated chickpeas have been transformed into HUMMUS! Pour the hummus into a zip lock bowl that has a tightly sealed lid.

Notice the creamy texture.

STEP SIX: Place the seared and cooked beef liver into the Cuisinart- Pulse until creamed liver pate’

This is Beef Liver Pate’

STEP SEVEN: Mix the liver pate’ and hummus in the same zip lock bowl.

STEP EIGHT: Slice your carrot slices as thin as possible.

STEP NINE: Arrange your carrot slices and dab the 50-50 mixture of creamed hummus and liver pate’ as the carrot cookie filling.

Xena is deciding which live hummus
cookie treat to eat!

Lip Smackin Good!!

Now.. if only we could come up with healthy cookies that we humans love to eat!

Holistic veterinarian and pet health researcher,  Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM., is available for pet health questions and pet health consultations for dogs and/ or cats.

Contact Dr. Carol’s veterinary office toll free at 1-866-372-2765 to make an appointment for your dog and/or cat today.

As a pet owner, do you wonder what you’re really feeding your dog? Was your canine a victim of the 2004 or 2007 Menu Pet Food Recall? Does your dog suffer from allergies? Did your dog get diagnosed with Cancer? Why did your vet recommend a “special” diet your dog doesn’t really like? Are you spending a fortune on your pet’s food?

Pet Food has become a true dilemma for many dog and cat owners! Ever think about home cooking for your pets but worried about making a mistake?

As a practicing holistic veterinarian for many years, many of my pet patients want to give their pets the very best, especially when it comes to pet food. The problem is how to figure out whats best for your pet.

This will be the first of my pet food series on Homemade Pet Diets:

Pawsitively Healthy Homemade Canine Cuisine…made with People Food

Poochys Pork Butts with Black Rice-n-Broccoli Florets

Step 1: Pour 1/4 cup of olive oil in a Dutch oven pot

Step 2: Sear two, three pound Organic Pork Butts, preferably the BONELESS CUT Ends, in a Dutch Oven and sear them on both sides until brown.
This also releases the porks natural flavors and juices.

Step 3: Add 4 Cups of distilled or filtered water to the seared pork.

Step 4: Place your Covered Dutch Oven containing the seared pork butts and water in your oven and cook (covered) at 350 degrees for 4 hours.

Step 5: After four hours the Pork will easily shred. Shred the pork and then add the 16 ounces of black rice. There will be flavored water and natural tasty juices left over in the Dutch oven that haven’t evaporated because the tight fitting lid retains the juices and flavor.

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Dear Dr. Carol,

We had the pleasure of coming into contact with you about 2 years ago when our dog Muggs, a yorkie was about to turn 17 years old.

He was suffering greatly from Diabetes and we had him on a “Standard” Veterinarian Protocol of “Vetsulin”, a product you were kind enough to inform us about and warn us that this Product had actually been recalled.

We informed our Vet who knew nothing about the recall and insisted the product was safe and effective.  Why then, we wondered, was Muggs trending worse and worse while using the Vetsulin, suffering lethargy, disorientation, uncontrollable urination and excessive demand for water no matter how much he drank?

We were sadly considering putting Muggs down as his quality of life was lessening each day. You advised us to switch him over to a human insulin product readily available (and incredibly less expensive) at Wal Mart, and how to check his urine using readily available Test Strips.

You also provided us with a foolproof method of tracking his progress.  We are happy to let you know that Muggs will be celebrating his 20th Birthday on March 12 of 2012.  He has no clue how old he is and we have no intention of letting him know!

He’s happy, active, healthy, and has more teeth than I do!  I’m anxiously looking forward to trying out your Eye Essentials as a supplement to maintaining his current level of good eyesight (he easily recognizes Friends at the other end of the Block during our walks).

Dr. Carol, it was fate that brought us to you, and now it our mission to let others know that you are here for all of us with truth and knowledge and your Pet Products geared toward improving the life of our canine companions.

Much love from your Friends in Los Angeles…Walter, Lud, and Muggs..

About Dr. Carol

Holistic veterinarian and pet health researcher,  Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM., is available for pet health questions and pet health consultations for dogs and/ or cats.

Contact Dr. Carol’s veterinary office toll free at 1-866-372-2765 to make an appointment for your dog and/or cat today.

Fellow Pet Lovers,

I wanted to share the latest update regarding Pet Diabetes and the Vetsulin Class Action Law Suit. The FDA has finally announced the fact that the Vetsulin Critical Need Program and Vetsulin is no longer available to treat pet diabetes in dogs or cats.

Veterinarians and diabetic pet owners must now transition their dogs and cats to another type of  insulin. For the vast majority of diabetic dogs and diabetic cats, DNA based insulin, available in a variety of formulations is available through veterinarians, at Walmart, as well as at most local pharmacies.

The law firm handling the Vetsulin Law Suit for affected Diabetic Pets asked me to share this letter:

The $29 Million Dollar Vetsulin Class Action Law Suit is being handled by the law firm Murry & Murray Co., L.P.A. Richard Kerger serves as legal counsel for diabetic pet owners affected by Vetsulin in an action pending in the Federal Court in Toledo, Ohio in which pet owners whose diabetic pets were injured by defective Vetsulin have sued the manufacturer, Intervet Schering-Plough and it’s parent company, Merck.

This has been filed as a $29 Million Dollar Vetsulin Class Action Law Suit, however discussions are currently underway which may lead to a resolution of this matter on an individual, rather than class basis.

The owners of diabetic pets adversly affected by Vetsulin may be able to recover part or all the expences they incurred.  Adverse Vetsulin effects diabetic pets may have suffered include blindness, cataracts, kidney and/or liver failure, and death. Diabetic pet owners must contact the law firm at Kergerlaw.com ASAP, before Vetsulin settlement discussions have ended.

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Dr. Carol – what can I say…you’re truly a blessing!!!

My 8 year old Lab,  Harley got very sick.  My dog wasn’t eating and I had to take a water bowl to her to get her to drink.  She had zero energy and her breathing was weird and she had urinated all over the kitchen floor one night.

I thought her breathing seemed a bit labored, in the end I would find out it was because my dog was in pain.

Anyway, I spent $1,200 at the emergency vet.  They weren’t finding anything. They called in a ‘specialist’ to look at her and he duplicated some of the lab tests as he wanted to have them sent to a different lab.

All the tests came back pointing to problems with my dog’s pancreas.  The next step would have been to do an expensive ultra sound to ‘try’ to figure out what to do next.

I contacted Dr. Carol as I knew her PAAWS products had helped my mom’s dog a few years back.  I sent her a copy of Harley’s lab results.  She looked them over and offered her advice free of charge.  She saved me the expense of the ultra sound.

She instructed me to feed Harley a home-made pet diet made of brown rice, boiled chicken, peas and sent me some of her pet products (Probiotics and Digest-Zymes) to sprinkle on her food.

I wasn’t sure if Harley would eat it because she tends to be a bit picky.  She not only ate Dr. Carol’s home-made diet, she was wanting MORE. I took a sigh of relief (that she was eating)!!  Harley has also started on the PAAWS product and she LOVES them!!!

Just before Harley got sick, I had recently opened a new bag of Iams Healthy Naturals (lamb meal and rice).

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Pet Diabetes continues to plaque our dogs and cats. In addition, the Vetsulin controversy continues on a daily basis with frustrated pet diabetes owners searching for answers and safe solutions to replace the tainted Vetsulin.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that hundreds of dogs and cats have already suffered from a variety of health issues as a result of being given the tainted insulin, the FDA has recently re-approved Vetsulin on what is being referred to as a “Critical Need Program” which in this veterinarians opinion is questionable at best.

Consequences diabetic pets have experienced as a result of being given the tainted Vetsulin range from blindness and kidney failure to liver dysfunction and for many pets, death. Diabetic pet owners interested in joining the $29 Million Dollar Vetsulin Class Action Law Suit can call 1- 419-255-5990 for more information.

Here is a Brief Timeline Focusing on Diabetes and Insulin.

According to this veterinarian’s knowledge, experience and research on this issue, diabetic dogs and cats as well as humans have been successfully treated with Insulin since 1921.

In July of 2005, manufacturer Eli Lilly announced it had discontinued production of four (4) insulin products citing a” drop in sales and usage by human diabetics.” This included Humulin and NPH insulin. Despite the fact that the FDA had approved these diabetic insulin medications for humans only, “veterinarians“ had been prescribing Humulin L and Iletin II for their diabetic patients for decades.”

In January of 2005, six (6) months before Eli Lilly stopped manufacturing Humulin and NPH, Vetsulin was announced as the “first and only insulin to be FDA approved for dog diabetes treatment”. As a result, many veterinarians switched their diabetic pets from Humulin and NPH insulin over to Vetsulin. Vetsulin was labeled as PZI or Porcine (pig based) Zinc Insulin.

On November 3^rd, 2009 the FDA announced an Alert for “PZI Insulin or Vetsulin.”

On November 20, 2009, 17 days after the Vetsulin (PZI Insulin) Alert was issued, the FDA announced approval of the First Ever “Human Recombinant PZI Insulin” for Veterinary use. It is called PZI Insulin. The PZI is now said to stand for Protamine Zinc Insulin or PROZINC Insulin.

The manufacturer, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica reports this PZI Insulin to be the “first and only insulin to be FDA approved for cat diabetes treatment.”

The cost of PZI-Vetsulin was on average $30-$38 dollars a bottle.

Note: Wal-Mart’s generic version, of Humulin N costs $20.00 a bottle and in this authors experience works like a charm!

The cost of the newly approved PZI-PROZINC Insulin is priced at $100-$120 dollars a bottle.

The FDA’s new Critical-Need Program allowing veterinarians to prescribe Vetsulin reads as follows:

Vetsulin should not be used in dogs known to be allergic to pork or pork products, and is contraindicated during periods of low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. Pets with signs of ketoacidosis, lack of appetite, lack of energy, or vomiting should be stabilized with short-acting insulin and appropriate supportive therapy until their condition is stabilized.

As with all insulin products, careful patient monitoring for low blood sugar or hypoglycemia and high blood sugar or hyperglycemia are essential for adequate blood sugar control and management of related problems. Over dosage in pet diabetics can result in life threatening low blood sugar levels which can lead to death.

“The supply of Vetsulin is only to be used for a critical-need dog or cat that, in the medical judgment of the diabetic pet’s veterinarian, cannot be effectively managed on another insulin product,” FDA reports.

As a result, FDA is recommending veterinarians with qualified pet diabetic patients contact Intervet/Schering Plough’s Technical Services Department at (800) 224-5318. Veterinarians will be required to provide the medical rationale about why the patient cannot be effectively controlled using another insulin product.

“Intervet continues to work with FDA to address concerns associated with the manufacture of Vetsulin,” the agency adds. “Because Vetsulin may have varying amounts of crystalline zinc insulin in the formulation, it could cause a delay in insulin action and an overall longer duration of insulin activity,” FDA says. Insulin products that do not remain within specification throughout the entire shelf life could potentially result in unpredictable fluctuations in the glucose levels of diabetic patients.

Use of the Vetsulin product under the new Critical-Need Program will require close monitoring of the pet diabetic patient, is the final statement issued by FDA.

Bookmark www.carolonpets.com for the latest pet health care news, tips and anti-aging updates for your dogs and cats.

Holistic veterinarian and researcher, Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM is available for pet health care consultations and pet health questions. Call Dr. Carol’s office toll free at 1-866-372-2765 to make an appointment for your pet.

PZI Insulin, which is porcine or pig based insulin, labeled as Vetsulin for dogs and cats in the United States and as Caninsulin in Canada and 23 other countries, has just been re-approved by the FDA for veterinarians to prescribe to their pet diabetes patients under what is being referred to as a new Critical-Need Program.

Over the last 6 months, countless numbers of diabetic dogs and cats on Vetsulin have died. Others have suffered devastating and for many pets, irreversible health consequences including blindness, liver and kidney failure. Well meaning diabetic pet owners have faced not only financial strain but also tremendous emotional duress.

In addition, a $29 Million Dollar Vetsulin Class Action Law Suit.

The FDA and Vetsulin manufacturer, Intervet/Schering Plough, announced the “Vetsulin Alert” initially on November 3rd, 2009. The alert was issued because there was a concern that certain batches of Vetsulin “might be unstable.”  It may be of interest to note that on November 3rd, 2009, Schering-Plough merged with Merck.

The FDA Vetsulin Alert is quoted as follows: National Report — November 3rd, 2009

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Pancreatitis is severe inflammation of the pancreas that often occurs due to eating too much rich, fatty food or getting into the garbage. Minature Schnauzers and obese dogs have the highest incidence of this disease. Dogs allowed to sample the feast at holiday celebrations often end up with indigestion and pancreatitis. With repeated episodes of inflammation, the pancreas loses its ability to function properly which can lead to diabetes.

SIGNS of Pancreatitis
* Vomiting.
* Diarrhea.
* Abdominal pain.
* Depression and lethargy.

WHAT YOU AND YOUR VET CAN DO
* Diagnosis is based on history, signs, and blood work if necessary. Treatment is geared to allow the intestinal tract to rest by withholding all food and water for up to 24 hours. Fluids may be given under the skin (subcutaneously), or in cases with vomiting fluids are replaced intravenously. Most dogs and cats respond to treatment and in a few days are gradually put back onto food, starting with a bland diet given in small portions several times daily.
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Pets and Diabetes
Pets and The Sugar Epidemic

The ABC’s of Diabetes Management, Insulin and Your Pet’s Diet

Welcome back to Boomster Live! This Thursday, 1/21 at 5:30 PM EST, Boomster’s in house pet expert, holistic veterinarian, Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM. returns to answer your pet health care questions, this time, regarding the growing problem of pet diabetes.

Unfortunately, diabetes is just as much of a problem for pets as it is for people. Dr. Carol will be providing insider secrets on how to maintain, monitor and feed your diabetic pet. It’s as easy as ABC!

For more information visit Boomster.com

So get Fido and Fluffy and join Dr. Carol and the Boomster Staff this Thursday 1/21 at 5:30PM EST!

Make sure you get to the show a few minutes beforehand so you can make sure your web browser is properly configured, your speakers are working and you have your pet diabetes questions ready to ask Dr. Carol.