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Pre-Surgical Information
Spaying or neutering your pet is a big step! There is a lot to consider
when we are planning your pet’s surgery. Here is some information to help
you make wise decisions.
Click here . . .
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Special LibraryOur Special Library
is a collection of informative articles on a variety of health topics.
Click here . . .
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Discharge InstructionsClick here for
information on how to care for your pet at home.
Click here . . .
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Insulin
Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels.
Storage and Handling. Insulin is a
sterile suspension, and care must be taken to keep it
that way. Insulin must be kept refrigerated.
When you take the insulin out to use it, it is important
to mix it well. However, DO NOT SHAKE insulin.
It is delicate and can be damaged by shaking. Roll
the bottle gently to mix. Be careful to not touch
the rubber stopper with your fingers.
Dosing and Administration. After rolling the
bottle to mix it up, insert the needle into the bottle
and draw up the required dose. Be sure and get all
the air out of the syringe. Then insert the needle
under your pet's skin and inject. Needles and
syringes may be re-used a few times.
Insulin should only be given with meals. Diabetic
animals should not be allowed to eat free-choice.
Feed them meals, generally twice a day. When it is
time to administer insulin, first feed you pet. If
your pet eats immediately, go ahead and inject the
insulin as usual. If you pet does not eat
immediately, do not inject insulin. We need to get
the pet to eat first. Injecting insulin when they
haven't eaten can cause serious problems.
The first thing to do is to wait a few minutes and see
if you pet will eat. If that doesn't work, then
try a little "special" food. You can try canned
food, broth, or even try warming the food up a little.
You can also try hand-feeding your pet. As a
last-ditch effort, you can try some treats that are low
in carbohydrates, like meat or cottage cheese. If
you pet eats, go ahead and inject insulin as usual.
If you pet still doesn't eat, it could be a problem, and
your pet needs to be examined by the veterinarian before
any insulin is given.
The most common problem you can get in to with insulin
is hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar.
If you pet develops hypoglycemia, your pet will appear
lethargic, slow, or sleepy. Your pet may even have siezures. If you suspect your pet has
hypoglycemia, the first thing to do is to try feeding
your pet. If that does not help, give your pet
Karo Syrup orally and call the veterinarian's office for
help. Hypoglycemia can be deadly if allowed to
progress.
If you have a dibetic pet on insulin therapy, you are
quite likely to sooner or later have a hypoglycemic
episode. Don't panic! Do get help!
There are several ways we monitor the effect of our
insulin therapy. On a day to day basis, we watch
to see how much water the pet is drinking. Pets
with poorly-controlled diabetes will drink a lot of
water. They will also urinate frequently.
From time to time, we will bring them into the clinic
and do glucose curves. We measure their blood
sugar levels throuought the day to make sure things are
going well. At-home monitoring is also an option.
Click Here to go
to a page on
Home Glucose Monitoring.
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