Diabetics and Dogs
I want to take time to tell you all about the hard lesson we learnt this weekend, so that you can all pass this news onto any and all Chihuahua groups and message boards you may belong to.
On Friday we (hubby and I) drove out to Brighton, and surprised his older sister with a puppy. She had one last year (from another breeder) that died from what I thought was Hypoglycaemia. So we took the puppy over and everyone loves it and she does great and kisses and loves on her new mommy and family. Then we go home.
The next morning we get a phone call, something is wrong with the puppy; it's having all the same signs that the other puppy had, drooling, seizures and body temperature very low, then semi coma. So I told her to rush this puppy to a vet. She does and I'm sitting here thinking, there's no way one of my puppies is sick... just can?t be... they have had shots, dewormed, no fleas, fed extremely well... there's just no way.
And then it just hits me... My hubby's sister is a diabetic. She takes insulin. I call her and tell her to tell the vet to give the puppy glucose. Her vet says he would have to test for low blood sugar first, and Parvo and Cocidia and Giardia... I'm yelling over the phone the tests will be negative, give the dog Glucose!
They get the test back in 10 minutes or so and, sure enough nothing is wrong other then NO blood sugar.
They finally give Glucose and hook up an IV. By this time I've got my husband already on his way to Brighton to remove the dog from the vet out there and bring it back here to our vet. Our vet treated the puppy over night and today we had her home and she's fine.
So you say, how did one dog die of this last year and this perfectly healthy puppy get so sick so quickly? Well it's simple actually... when you draw insulin or any medication into a needle you’re taught to squirt out the excess and any air bubbles... where do those drops go? They go onto your clothing or roll off onto your hand holding the needle. So the puppy licked her hands (both puppies) and just a few drops ingested into a 1lb puppy is all it takes to shut off all blood sugar and send them into a shock, a coma and finally death.
So for all of you with dogs, If you are diabetic or you live with someone who is, it is a MUST that the person do all insulin draws over a sink and wash their hands right after and the injection site as well. And always keep the needles and bottles out of the animals reach as well.
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18 Aug, 2006 (Edited 12 Jun, 2007)
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