Jenny Sue, the Newly Diagnosed Diabetic Spaniel

Jenny Sue and Cinnamon

  This is Jenny Sue. Jenny Sue turned 12 years old on Dec 2 and she hadn't been acting like she was feeling well. After a few days, Ma took her to the vet for a checkup. 

Jenny is blind, deaf in one ear and has limited hearing in the other. She can still hear a treat bag being opened so we know she can hear a little. Jenny went blind when she was 5 yrs old. This hasn't stopped her from enjoying life. She still played fetch, swam, went for walks with us and is the best snuggler you have ever met. She loves to give hugs and kisses and loves food. 

Happy Girl after her hair cut

  For the last 4 months Jenny has been slowing down. She pretty much just ate, pottied and slept her days away. After all she is 12 now and it was to be expected for her breed. Spaniels live a average of 11-14 yrs. We expected her to slow down but she still enjoys life. 

  We have started seeing a new vet who is 4 blocks from our house. He is our emergency vet. Ma thought it was best that we schedule an appointment with the new vet to let him get to know us. I went first and since I was very comfortable with him we decided he was a good choice for a emergency, non emergency, don't have time to go to our regular vet who is 45 minutes away, and general vet. Jenny Sue went next. She really liked him too. They love how she is a snuggle pup and loves everyone. She had a general checkup just a hands on kind of thing and she passed with flying colors. 

  About 4 weeks ago ma was grooming Jenny and when she picked up her ear the stink like to knocked her over. Ma took her to the vet and she had a double ear infection. When they did some blood work they noticed her sugars were a little high but said that could have been because of her ear infection and the fact that she had just got over her cycle. Jenny Sue is not spayed. She was one who couldn't be due to medical problems. She has seizures. She hasn't had one in 6 mths but when she was younger she would have them more often.The pawents chose not to put her through the surgery. They decided that if she needed a surgery , it would be for emergency only. 

  Around the time that Jenny was getting over her ear infection ma noticed she was losing weight. Ma thought it was because we changed kibble and Jenny didn't like it as much as her other kibble so she wasn't eating as much. Last week Jenny started getting really clingy. She always wanted one of the pawents near her. Usually when she does this it means she doesn't feel good. Ma called the vet and talked to his assistant. She told them that Jenny wasn't feeling good. Ma asked if they could do a CBC (Complete Blood Count) and just go from there. Ma knew if the blood work came back okay that it could just be arthritis setting in and Jenny was just achy.  

  Blood work and urine test confirmed that Jenny Sue was a diabetic. Her numbers were above 300 for glucose and she was showing ketones in the urine. It was then decided that she definitely needed to start insulin. 

  We just started the insulin yesterday. It may have to be adjusted and diets need to be changed. We are new to all of this but a few of our friends have reached out to us to say they were there to help. They have a diabetic pet also and have been down this road. It makes us feel better to know we have friends to help us and a vet to hold our hand as we go to unknown territory. 

I will be talking occasionally about our journey to learning more. I am including a list of the top 10 signs that your pet may be diabetic. If you see 2 or more of these signs in your own pets, please take them to the vet and have them checked out. Early warnings may be subtle but in older pets it can go undetected or be passed off as the pet just getting older. 

Top 10 Signs of Diabetes in Pets

• Increased thirst.  Jenny was emptying a water bowl quite frequently
• Increased urination or having more accidents- Jenny was urinating and acting like she didn't know that she was doing it. She was peeing on herself in her sleep. 
• Increased hunger- We couldn't fill Jenny up. She was constantly eating
• Sudden weight loss- She lost 4 pounds in 3 weeks. 
• Obesity- We did not experience this one. We are all at healthy weights
• Weakness or Fatigue - many times these are signs that people view as the pet getting up in age. This was actually one of the 1st signs we seen
• Thinning hair- This is another sign that people view as a pet getting older.
• Cloudy Eyes- hazy eyes is a sign. We couldn't see this one since Jenny is blind.
• Depression/acting bored-Many see this as a pet getting older
• Vomiting-Jenny did throw up a few times when she had her ear infections so we thought maybe it was caused from the infection. 

Do you have a diabetic pet?