Last updated: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:48:38
It is now Thu, 15 May 2008 08:19:51
Last updated: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:48:38
It is now Thu, 15 May 2008 08:19:51
Hi! I am VekToria, VekToriAna for short, call name Vekkie. I joined Kwali and Kumbi and Carol early in 2008, and have become part of the family. All welcomed me very warmly, as indeed, they should. I have been working hard - well, playing! - with talking about diabetic dogs, and what can be done to keep them in glowing good health, so that you'd never know they were diabetic.
Carol has given me lots of latitude and longitude to play here on Coherent Dog, and I am using it.
Expect changes here! If ever you start feeling too unstable, I will ask Skyhook to deliver progeny to you, so you can anchor yourself as needed.
Here I am, with my Skyhook. She is as trustworthy as are well-cared-for dogs, and I stake my life on her help, as you will see.
Vekkie with SkyHook
A loving relationship
And a trusting one, too.
Photo by Almali
Now I open the rest of this page to Carol, to let her deliver a few notes.
On 1 September, 2006, just as we had come through in fine fettle after knee surgery for Kumbi, and a year later, for Kwali, Kumbi was diagnosed with diabetes.
Diabetes changed our lives. Talk about regulation! With diabetes, food, exercise and insulin are all crucial factors. Food and insulin is best delivered on a strict schedule. I haven't met strict schedules for many years, since retiring, but I set up my computer calendar program, CalendarScope, to set off daily alarms to keep me on-track, feeding and shooting Kumbi on time.
It took us more than a year to get the insulin dose finely tuned so that Kumbi is in glowing health once again. Meantime, he went almost completely blind from diabetic cataracts. We cannot afford surgery, and if we could, the stress would be more than Kwali and Kumbi could take, as we would have to travel and stay in hotels. Kumbi enjoys his life and finds his way around despite his very severely impaired vision. Let nobody tell you a blind dog can't have fun!
When Kumbi was diagnosed with diabetes, I was cheerful enough about it, because my veterinarian was cheerful. That really helped! She had confidence in me and in Kumbi.
I did, though, find myself very overwhelmed by having to reorganize my scheduling so drastically, working to a strict schedule, helping both dogs adjust to mealtimes twelve hours apart, when they had been accustomed to having more frequent meals. I put Kwali on the same high-fiber, restricted-fat diet that I was feeding Kumbi, as Kwali is getting old, born 12 April 1995, and the diet seemed to suit her well. But both dogs found it hard at first to wait a full 12 hours for food, especially during the day.
It wasn't until I had become adjusted to the new schedules myself that I began to explore to find email lists where other humans who have diabetic animal companions exchange messages with each other.
When finally I did go exploring, I found an email list called Muffin. Muffin? Odd name, I thought. Well, of course, Muffin was a dog who had died years and years ago; was diabetic - and belonged to the owner of the email list. The list-owner had been running the list ever since - over ten years now. I subscribed, and really enjoyed the list, and quickly made new friends there.
The Muffin email list has become my home for discussions concerning diabetic dogs. Plenty of human Muffins, as I like to call them, also have diabetic cats. Cats respond somewhat differently from how dogs do to having diabetes, and usually different insulins are used for cats.
Here on Coherent Dog, because I haven't personal experience with diabetic cats, I'm concentrating on the dogs. But the Muffin list should be both delightful and helpful for humans with diabetic cat companions, as well as those of us with diabetic dogs.
You will find the Muffin Pet Diabetes Web Site at the Muffin Diabetic Pets Association
Dusty, elderly diabetic Golden Retriever, loves to design jewelry. With her winning ways, she persuades her human companion and doGMum to do the craft-work, while she supervises. Dusty sells the work to help the Muffin Diabetic Pets Association assist with the care of diabetic dogs or cats whose humans cannot cover the necessary costs. All proceeds from sales of jewelry designed by Dusty, and crafted by her loving Mum, go to the Association.
For more information, go to Dusty's Designs.
