Does anyone know how to lower a dogs blood glucose at home without insulin?
All vets in the area are closed until monday. My older dog became very lethargic tonight and has been drinking/urinating excessively. After she vomited a few times tonight, I decided to take her blood glucose and found it is alarmingly high. Is there anything I can do to help her before Monday? I’ve read mixed reports on using cinnamon to bring it down… any experience with this? Thanks everyone
Very often, dry grain based foods are to blame for diabetes in dogs and cats.
If her blood sugar is very high, she still needs to see a vet now. She also needs a completely different diet because what she is eating now is NOT working.
Carbohydrates work just like sugar to a dog or cats system. Just like in humans, there’s only so many times you can spike your blood sugar with too much sugar before eventually the system that regulates blood sugar in your body just breaks. Obviously, that’s oversimplifying, but, that’s the basics of what happens. Now that it has happened, there will always be a need to monitor and manage her blood sugar.
What you want is a canned dog food only, NOT dry. It would be best for it to be grain free, though even good canned foods usually have some potato. BUT, the first ingredients should ALL be meat.
Merricks makes some good canned foods, so does Blue Buffalo. They are both available at stores like Petsmart and Petco.
Once you change her food, it will change how much insulin she needs! It is very important to keep testing and working with your vet to modify her dose. Otherwise, you risk her going hypoglycemic which is also very dangerous!
No treats at all for her either, most of those have tons of sugar and carbs in them.
But, I would call the vets, many of them have a 24 hour answering service that will call them for an emergency and high blood glucose is an emergency.
4 responses so far
I’d not mess around with home remedies to be honest. Even if your regular vet is closed over the weekend, all vets are supposed to have a back-up emergency number, and I’d treat this as an emergency even if you just phone for advice. It sounds as if your dog is in trouble, so get some professional advice, and fast.
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There has got to be an on call vet. I would not recommend doing anything at home considering it could cause more harm then good. Don’t want your dog to end up in shock and possibly dead. I would contact the on call veterinarian and get some medication asap. There should be a 24-hr on call vet. Most if not all veterinarian clinics have these. Just call, and they usually will have you leave a message and will call you back right away. I had an incident where my dog drank 2000 flushes out of the toilet. Had to use peroxide to make him vomit but at least I made sure he was safe.
References :
Very often, dry grain based foods are to blame for diabetes in dogs and cats.
If her blood sugar is very high, she still needs to see a vet now. She also needs a completely different diet because what she is eating now is NOT working.
Carbohydrates work just like sugar to a dog or cats system. Just like in humans, there’s only so many times you can spike your blood sugar with too much sugar before eventually the system that regulates blood sugar in your body just breaks. Obviously, that’s oversimplifying, but, that’s the basics of what happens. Now that it has happened, there will always be a need to monitor and manage her blood sugar.
What you want is a canned dog food only, NOT dry. It would be best for it to be grain free, though even good canned foods usually have some potato. BUT, the first ingredients should ALL be meat.
Merricks makes some good canned foods, so does Blue Buffalo. They are both available at stores like Petsmart and Petco.
Once you change her food, it will change how much insulin she needs! It is very important to keep testing and working with your vet to modify her dose. Otherwise, you risk her going hypoglycemic which is also very dangerous!
No treats at all for her either, most of those have tons of sugar and carbs in them.
But, I would call the vets, many of them have a 24 hour answering service that will call them for an emergency and high blood glucose is an emergency.
References :
I’m fearing she will go into diabetic coma (which will kill if left untreated, and also leaves the victims susceptible to more episodes, if they survive), so an emergency hospital for pets would be the best idea. If it was my dog, that’s what I’d do. I’ve driven 300 miles, twice in a 2 week period, after getting off work and arriving at the clinic at 11 pm, to save one of mine (for an emergency unrelated to what’s being discussed here).
But, to answer your question and as usual, you have and you will, get a bunch of responses that scream "Don’t use home remedies!". However, I and a lot of other people (many of whom are people with agricultural backgrounds) do use "home remedies" successfully on themselves, as well as their animals.
You mentioned cinnamon. My current OH uses that daily on his breakfast oatmeal (which he eats to also help control his high cholesterol). Like a lot of things that are considered "home remedies" anything you use that’s natural must be used on a daily basis, and it will take a while to realize results, just like weight loss programs. You are what you eat. This goes for animals as well as people. Dogs, as mentioned, are not herbivores, and feeding them kibble with a high grain content leads to all kinds of problems, including severe allergies and diabetes.
Something else that will help her you’ll have to get at a health food store that carries raw glandulars. Solaray is my favorite brand; I’ve used it for 30 years. Raw pancreas is what she needs, and you need to get some papaya digestive enzymes to give her with that, because it will constipate severely if you don’t. A naturepath diagnosed my Ex as pre-diabetic many years ago at the age of 32, and he’s been able to stave off the illness by controlling his diet and using the glandular. My current OH actually experienced adult onset diabetes due to a crisis G 6 sickling episode a few years ago, and overcame the diabetes using the "home remedies" I’ve mentioned. His Mediterranean doctor is amazed. His blood sugar stays normal as long as he stays on his regime.
Feel free to email if you have any other questions.
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