Hi,
I have an almost 6 year old genetically weak Irish terrior who has diabetes. He was diagnosed almost 1 year ago. After months of trying different insulins, we settled on Novotin and he seems to be okay, although He is on the highest dose for his weight, twice per day. My question is - he seems fine most of the time, be every now and then, he goes 'off' and has an accident first thing in the morning, he can't seem to hold it. Is this normal, do they fluctuate and have bad days even though the insulin works most of the time?
rileyvan

Hi,

My parents cocker was on the highest possible dose of every brand of insulin going at various points in her life and it was never completely under control :( The doses would fluctuate wildly throughout the week for no apparant reason and she'd often have accidents in the house.

My parents lived with this for about 6 yrs until she died of a stroke aged 11.

HTH,

Fiona
x x x

Our 12 year old lab x has been diabetic for over 2 years now. She has always been very stable with 1 injection each morning, only once did she have to stay over at the vets to stabilise her and this was because she had a bug and wouldn't eat. She got cataracts over both eyes and went totally blind almost overnight, we had them both removed and lenses put in unfortunately only 1 was successful, but she can see really well with one eye, though she relied on our other dog, a dobe, quite a lot, unfortunately she died on Boxing Day. But she doesn't have any accidents in the house. Could this perhaps be related to something else other than to the diabetes?

Thanks, this is good to know. Ours is pretty much under control for now, and if he can last another 4 years i'll be happy. He has a lot of problems including a heart murmur. (I almost think he knew that I was going back to work yesterday morning after being off for 2 weeks.) A change in his life again! He was fine this morning, so I guess I'll just tough it out.
rileyvan

My parents cocker ended up completely blind due to catarrachts (sp?), was deaf, had colitis and was often incontinent but she was a bundle of fun and adored my children. Whenever we went to the house she would come running for a fuss and a cuddle and was still walking 3 or 4 miles a day the week before she died.

Fiona
x x x