Diabetic Dogs: Diabetes Is Not Just a Disease in Humans

My whole life I have had a dog as a pet. One dog stands out, and his name was Moose. Moose was a mix of lab, Sheppard, beagle, and husky mix. He was a unique dog, even from the moment we met him as a puppy, we knew was your ordinary dog.

We had just lost our black lab of 14years named Radar; we went one week with no dog, when my mother decided we just needed another dog, so we kept an eye in the paper when she spotted an ad that said "mixed lab puppies for sale $50.00 each." But it was over an hour drive to a place we have never been to. So that Saturday we got into the station wagon made the journey. On the way my mother kept saying we get a black one and name him Radar Jr. Being young teen girls, my sisters and myself, were just excited about getting this new puppy. My parents, especially my mom were very close to Radar and wanted a black one.

When we arrive at this farm the woman told us, that their lab gave birth but they were not quite sure which dog gave her the puppies, her mother thought it was a husky down the street and she thought it was a Sheppard. All the puppies were black or black and brown, but the one that was causing confusion was yellow. He was the only one who was different, then the other puppies. So she led us outside, and as we round the corner the house puppies came running to us, but the lead one was the yellow one, he came over to us laid down on the ground and rolled onto his back. He was adorable and my mother was ohhing over him.

I noticed he had only one blue eye, and pointed this out to my mom. My sisters and dad went over to the others and my mother and I joined, with the yellow puppy walking with us. When he got back with his siblings he went to pine tree and started chewing on it. My father saw him and noticed his blue eye. He thought he was unique as well. My father's attention was on this black and brown puppy, it reminded him of a dog he had when he was little. By then my mom was taken with the yellow dog, there was just something about him.

My father had to make the decision he was the one paying for the dog. He was petting the brown and black one when he noticed the puppy was a female, and it sort of became a rule in the house, we got male dogs, so my father would not feel out numbered since he had a wife and three daughters. Again he looks over to the yellow, he was torn between the two dogs, and he admitted later if he had the money he would take both dogs. But the descion had to be for one. So he went over to the yellow one and laughed at him when he saw him chewing on the Christmas tree branch, he just looked cute, flashing us that blue eye, lie he was saying "pick me". So we decided we wanted that oddball puppy he was the one for us.

We got into our car with our new puppy, my mom picked him up and said "he is heavy, what a little moose you are" Her eyes lit up and said that "that is perfect name for you, Moose, your J.R Moose." The J.R was in honor of Radar. We got him into the house; he just took to us instantly. You could tell he was happy to be with us. Then we started to find out how unique he truly was. You see Moose wasn't just a dog, he was very human like, of all the dogs we had we never had one have so many human charaistics, like he did.

We got him in November, so when Christmas came around I had got the puppy squeak Santa and a rawhide treats, and it was gift-wrap for him. On Christmas morning, a joke started give moose his present first, and we put it down, and we said you need to open your gift, it was like he understood, and the dog actually opened his own gift. After that it became tradition that every Christmas, Moose open the first gift and that was the start of our holiday. When we acquired other dogs, it was still Moose that would open the gifts.

What really showed us he was human like was the summer, we had an above ground pool, we were swimming it me, my sisters and my mom and dad. Moose was outside with us and suddenly the puppy of 6 months climbed the pool ladder and dived in. Never had my parents seen a dog actually climb the ladder before. Then the next year the floating noodles came out and we had them well Moose now over a year old, claimed a noodle he put his front paws over the noodle and would float around on the noodle. We had volleyball net over our pool to play, once when we started a game suddenly moose joined in, he would hit the ball with his nose over the net. Friends would see the pictures we take of Moose doing this and ask, "How did you teach him to do this." The answer we didn't, Moose just did it on his own.

What really stands out for me personally, when I was home from college, I suddenly developed asthma, and almost every night for one month my mother was rushing me to the emergency room because I could not breathe? My family doctor at the time would not diagnose me as Asthmatic, so after my 20th trip the, ER doctor, who was getting use to seeing me, diagnosed me as Asthmatic, and gave a told us of a doctor to go to. I was getting better once I got medication, to help control the asthma, but I still had the spastic breathing every so often. One night I somehow stumbled downstairs in the middle the night, and was very bad, it was probably the worse attack I had had.

I could not walk anymore and got myself to sit on the couch, Moose came out of nowhere and came to me, I managed to get out, "Moose, get mom" he went to my mothers room, and I heard her say, "I just let you out, quit hitting me." Then she yelled. I swear dog you must have a small bladder, why do you want out again?" I heard her getting up and mumbling, I managed a weak "mom"; she looked over to me and knew I was in trouble with my asthma, and rushed me to the ER. Moose saved my life in a way. He knew he was to get my mother up; he kept hitting her with his paw till she woke up.

About four years ago, my mother noticed Moose wasn't acting right; he was drinking an awful lot of water, and constantly wanting to go outside. She said he was acting like he was a diabetic, so we took him to his vet to check if he was. Sure enough Moose was diabetic. His blood sugar was very high. He had to take him every other day to the vet that first week to get his blood sugar down and give him insulin. Finally we got the sugar down, but now we had to give him insulin. Moose was a huge dog so he was up to 55 units twice a day. He was one the biggest dogs at the vets to be diabetic so it didn't look like he make it past a year, but Moose proved them wrong, he survived the diabetes for 4 years. When finally towards the end his kidneys shut down and he did die from complications of the diabetes.

We had him for eleven years. When he passed he was 155 pounds, so now you know why Moose was a good name for him. It finally hit us the reality that he was gone was Christmas, we tried to give the other dogs their gifts to open, but they could not do it and didn't understand. That when you realize a tradition you had for the past 11 years was no more, and reality set in.

Diabetes is an epidemic amongst dogs; more and more dogs are becoming diabetic. This actually has nothing to do with the diet. It is believed, that it is a virus that they are getting, and settles into the pancreas. When Moose was diagnosed, my family found other pet owners, who also had diabetic animals. Unlike humans, there is no way really to test an animal's sugar with finger picks, so weekly, or monthly visits to the vets are necessary. They draw the blood run the test and tell you how to adjust the insulin. One friend my mom's whose dog was diabetic, every morning tried to test his dog's urine but didn't have success at it, for obvious reasons.

There also some vets, say about pricking the inside the dogs lip, but that can be dangerous. The best way is the trip the vet once a week. When moose got bad and could not be lifted into the car, he averaged around 150lbs, I being a phlebotomist, would draw his blood and my mom would run the sample up to the vet. To draw his blood, I did like I would on a human except I draw in his leg, and that what the vet did when he drew his blood If you see you dog, drinking more water then usual, that usually the best sign, ask your vet to check him for diabetes.