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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.
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