Bewildering Array of Opinions and Options

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. I hold no designations in politics, economics or medicine. I am retired from the mental health field. I am a humanitarian and speak from that viewpoint only. Whether you agree or not, at least I hope it makes you think. This week, I look at the world of pet diagnosis and the bewildering array of information that can make things both better and worse. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

This past while, we had noticed that Sam, our dog has been drinking more, and urinating more frequently. It wasn’t stopping, so not the warm weather. For me, it was disturbing as I could see that something was amiss. Sam had never been that way. He’s a pretty clockwork dog. This means, he likes his scheduling, he likes routine. He even knows when lunch time and bed time are and literally starts getting ready near the same time every day. Anything that isn’t routine for him makes me suspicious. So, that was my first hint that things were wrong. After a few days of bathroom trips in the middle of the night, it was determined we should take him for a vet visit. So, we called. There is, much like with doctors, a lack of vets in the area. We got him in on a call and see about cancellations basis. In the meantime, it had worsened…which means that he was going to the bathroom in the middle of the night more often than before…so the vet made room for Sam.

After the visit, we faced the worst nightmare of every pet parent. Sam was diagnosed as diabetic. Here is where the beginning of confusion started. First, I did not go to the appointment. I have doubts that I would have made a difference being there as I had no real knowledge of dog diabetes and no idea about the costs and treatment. I knew from family experience that it can be complicated; there is a need for glucose monitoring, medication. I knew what some of the items were at least from the human perspective. My husband was a complete newbie and had no idea what any of the stuff was. I know they like to make available all the information, but the laundry list of items, mixed with my knowledge of human diabetes complicated things further. I didn’t realize that dogs don’t need constant blood work like humans. The medication is done on a schedule. With the stable diet, one doesn’t need to do constant monitoring as with people whose diets vary. The listing containing prices of treatment options contained more than one option. This confused my husband who thought he would need both of every option. This much, at least I was knowledgeable about. I could separate out the options. The totals therefore were meaningless as some options would not fit for Sam. Others would only be needed in much less numbers than for humans. Once we understood that the bottom line was meaningless, we worked on the numbers that we could see that Sam needed.

At this point, it became necessary for another appointment because we had a better grasp on what was going on and the actual costs were easier to weed out. I’m sure, most pet parents who hear bad news, lose their ability to hear most of what is said. So, within a day or so at the most, we had decided that the initial $800 a month was not the actual costs and needed to be clearer on what we were looking at. The problem with most of the programs for Vets seems that they end up having an end total come up. Despite being told it is meaningless, people tend to be in shock and will look at that as the guideline. This is useless. I would suggest a lovely black sharpie or a sticker with please call us to discuss options might be less intimidating to the already shell shocked owner finding out Sam, Fido or Fluffy needs special care.

Sam, of course is only 5 years old. Often diabetes is diagnosed middle age and later in a dog’s life. Sam is unusual somewhat. At the same time 1 in every 300 dogs will develop diabetes in its lifetime. https://www.greatpetcare.com/dog-heal... The article also contains information on what to watch for. The thirst and frequent urination top the list. It progresses from there. The earlier it is caught and treated, the better the dog’s chances. It’s not an easy thing. There is the problem of expenses. These can reach around $3000+ annually https://spendonpet.com/cost-to-treat-.... This article gives a better idea. We’re kind of guesstimating Sam’s case and Canadian prices…and I’m guessing that the article is American. Much depends on the size of the dog, and other factors that the Vet will examine.

Blood glucose testing is, as pointed out in the article, every 6 months after the stabilizing. One still has to know their animals and watch out for other issues. Some concerns centre around too much insulin or not enough insulin. The testing curves (the every 6 months test that I mention) are to help with getting this sorted. In the meantime, we have to get used to Sam getting shots every 12 hours…and worse, Sam has to get used to having the shots every 12 hours. That’s two times a day. Depending on how he responds to treatments, we need to know what to do, if he needs adjusted doses and such. The amount of insulin that he needs will be dependent on how he responds to treatment. This is all new to us as pet parents…and I have to admit to a little anxiety as to whether we’ll be doing it all right. You are never prepared for the illness of your fur babies. It has tossed most of the A & J PEI Treasures work into reverse and we’ve been spending most of our time trying to get our ducks in a row for Sam as fast as we can. We know that time is of the essence in getting him taken care of so that we can get his diabetes under control.

We are on the first steps right now. It might or might not work. That is the other consideration. There is no reason to expect that it won’t work at this point. However, there is always the possibility. So, we are going about this one step at a time. The Vet Tech showed us and got us to practice giving Sam a needle using saline solution. It’s not impossible to learn to manage to do this. It’s not impossible to manage your dog’s diabetes. Feeding routines will have to be followed closely. Calorie intake has to be as exact as possible.

I think the most important advice I can give for you and your dog friends is to make sure that you know their habits. Know how much they drink and eat and potty. We have Sam in at night and he is pretty much with us most of his time. So, we noticed almost immediately that his habits had changed when he started to drink more and needed to be let out at night. With almost any veterinary issue, catching changes in your pet is very important. The sooner you get that looked at, the more likely to get a good outcome.

Since starting the draft of this blog post and podcast, we have begun treatment with Sam. The first shot was difficult to say the least. I only managed to get about ¾ of it in. The second time we approached much differently. Sorry to say and I apologize to Vets everywhere, we resorted to a treat to distract him. Hubby decided to try what he does to make Sam more comfortable around the tools in the garage and showed him the needle and said good needle, good Sam. Whether that worked, the treat distraction worked or he’s starting to pair the shot with feeling better…because almost immediately he stopped needing to drink and potty so much. So, not very scientific I’m afraid, but we got the second shot in alright. Right now, it’s more urgent to get the insulin into him without it being a Battle Royale. At least we got the second shot in without trauma to him or us. He hardly noticed it. The Vet Tech says eventually he is going to get more used to it and it won’t be as hard. So, remember pet parents, don’t give up when at first you don’t succeed, try it a different way. Your Vet might be able to make suggestions.

People like to complain about the Veterinary Clinics being about money. What they don’t understand is that they are providing you with every possible option that you might wonder about. They also, to be realistic, are just like you and me; they got to pay for all their supplies, etc up front. You need to understand, just because they give you a long list, does not mean that you will need to get everything on it. For example, there might be multiple types of insulin available (or whatever the medication). Make sure you know the options and which are options and which are necessary. If the clinic didn’t care about animals, they wouldn’t have taken on that job. It would be rather a waste of time to work in a profession that you didn’t care about. I can see how people might start to feel overwhelmed and seeing the things add up can be overwhelming. But, at the same time if you don’t get the options available, then you’d be complaining that they didn’t tell you everything. It’s not an easy balancing act. If you need to take the list item by item and look everything up to try to sort things and spreadsheet what you can and will purchase, what you need to purchase, it might not be so traumatic as you first thought.

We hope that Sam will have a happy and healthy future and we’re willing to invest in it. The clinic has been helpful and has met with us once more to discuss treatment options more specific to Sam’s case. The second time was to train us to administer treatment. We came home with all the items necessary to give Sam a good start on getting stable and hopefully it goes well from there. Don’t allow yourself to be completely overwhelmed by the costs…not all of them may apply in your case. It’s in your hands whether or not you can afford treatment. It is a bit pricey, and it won’t be easy, but in our case, it pretty much takes up the sales from the past summer to make his treatment for the year. He’s a young dog and we hope to be able to give him as good a quality of life as possible. It is not to say that if you feel you can’t afford it that you are wrong. It’s costly and it could fail. It’s an individual decision and a private one. Remember, it’s your life and your pet. It is your choice and no choice is right or wrong. The treatment choice will still leave some anxieties.

As Benjamin Hoff is credited with saying, “Lots of people talk to animals… Not very many listen, though… That’s the problem.” So, my best advice in this blog post or podcast is to make sure to listen to your pet. They tell you something is wrong by behaving differently. We knew something was up when his drinking and potty changed. If you listen to your pet, you’ll have a better chance to help them if and when they need it. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope I made you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!

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