Diabetic diet

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

This site is such a wealth of information that I'm hoping I can obtain some help my daughter out with her Bull Mastiff that has developed diabetes at the age of 4.  His blood sugar staying in the 400's despite insulin.  Diesel had stopped eating and has lost quite a bit of weight.  She began feeding him 4 small meals a day and he finally gained 4lbs on vet visit today, but blood sugar is unchanged.  They do not feed a high quality food, but are now faced with finding a good diabetic dog food that he will eat in order to control the sugar.  The vet has increased his insulin to the max that he is comfortable with and said next step will be a specialist.  Unfortunately, she does not have pet insurance and if his medical care cost increase dramatically she may be faced with looking into a rescue or having him put down.  Such a sad situation, he is such a gentle giant.  Thanks in advance for your advice. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I'm so happy to hear this....what a relief!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Kathy, the first food I'd suggest your DD try for Diesel is Holistic Select Weight Management formula. It's much better nutritionally and the nutritional profile is similar, right down to the L-Carnitine for fat burning.

http://holisticselect.com/weight-management-dry-dog-food-chicken-me...

I'll keep looking to see if there's anything better out there, but this one should work.

It's very important that whatever food she chooses, she eliminates any "dietary indiscretions" by making sure Diesel doesn't have access to treats, snacks, people food, trash cans, etc. have her follow the feeding guidelines for Deisel's desired weight, not his current weight. She can add half a can of sodium free green beans (you can get them at Walmart) to keep him from being too hungry.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Kathy, I just found another Canine Diabetes support group, and this one has advice and guidelines for homecooked diets for diabetic dogs:

http://caninesupportgroup.com/homemade_diets.htm

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! for all your help.  I'm a nurse so I truly can't figure out why he would suggest this food for a dog that has had significant weight loss already,  he mentioned the carbs in this food being "complex" carbs, but even at that they would be restricted for a human.  The new support group I think may be the way to go for him.  Daughter mentioned yesterday that she would be willing to cook his food....just told her we would need to find a diet that covers all basis.  To your knowledge, does DK have a diabetic group?  Again, thank you so much Karen for your advice and help.  :-)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There's no diabetic group here; any info there might be on diabetes would be found in the Health & Medical Issues group.

The majority of dogs here on DK are relatively young, so although there's a lot of talk about allergies and tummy troubles, there are not many old enough to have developed some of these chronic health issues that show up later; I think that as time goes by and some of the dogs get older, we will unfortunately see many more groups for dogs with various illnesses, including diabetes.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Kathy, I'd also look on Amazon for books on homecooked diets for dogs. many of them contain recipes for special needs' dogs. Just make sure that the authors have the nutritional/veterinary credentials to be advising people on the nutritional needs of dogs with chronic illness.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This one may be of interest:

http://www.amazon.com/Raw-Natural-Nutrition-Dogs-Definitive/dp/1556...#_

 

Dr. Olson has the credentials to advise people on canine nutrition; unfortunately, she also sells a lot of supplements, so you have to take some of her advice with a grain of salt, no pun intended. Still, she has balanced homecooked diets for dogs with various health issues.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

There is a lot of great info in this book.  The section specifically related to diabetes is pretty limited, although there is lots of other more general information related to healthy feeding, that I think would be helpful.  Her basic advice related to diabetes is to offer a low carb diet with moderate levels of fat and high levels of protein which help balance sugar levels.   If carbohydrates are offered they need to be well cooked and low glycemic.  She also recommends carnitine, chromium, vitamin A, fish oil, b complex vitamins, vitamin E and digestive enzymes as supplements for dogs with diabetes.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is what's confusing to me, because the veterinary diet the vet recommended is very low in protein, as most of them are. I selected the Holistic Select formula based on the macronutrient values in the Rx food. There are other lowfat foods out there, intended for weight loss, so if the protein levels can be higher, I can find others.

Carntitine and Chromium are both used by humans to reduce body fat while maintaining lean muscle. When you do searches for them, you get a lot of bodybuilding sites, lol.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I just went back and rechecked this in the book...it is definitely what she's saying.  She does reference Type 1 Diabetes which she said is what is the most common in dogs.  I wonder if there could be different dietary approaches for other types of Diabetes, although she only discusses Type 1.

[Adina P]

In people there's not really a set diet for either.  But people with Type 1 diabetes typically have more freedom in their diets because they rely on insulin and have to act as their own pancreas...thus they are allowed to eat normally but must simply match their insulin to their carb intake (among other adjustments).  However, even though ideally they can eat 'normally' -- it usually works best if they are also careful and eat a balanced diet rather than just 'anything' type of 'normal.'  On the other hand people with type 2 diabetes are often (not always) overweight and in need of a revamped diet overall for weight loss and overall health. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This also looks like a VERY good group, and it appears they also have diet advice:

http://www.caninediabetes.org/