December 10, 2008 11:19 AM
Mike Pearson on dealing with his dog's diabetes - and a bit of pop culture
carol We had a german shepherd mix that came down with diabetes when she was about 7. We had no clue about the symptoms for diabetes. It was a hot summer, she drank a lot. pee-d a lot, smelled strong, the flies loved it. She slowed down and just wanted to rest. Finally she looked like she was losing
Mark_Wolf Carol, thanks for the input. Mike is having trouble logging on.
Mark_Wolf How's your german shepherd doing?
Mark_Wolf Hope to have Mike on soon.
carol I guess my message was too long. I don't know how much you read. Finally she developed laryngeal paralysis. We tried surgery, she got pneumonia and we ended up putting her down. We dealt with it for 2 1/2 years. Loved her very much. That was 5 years ago. We had a wonderful vet at Alameda East
Mark_Wolf Did you get another dog?
carol No, we have decided not to get a dog for a while. Still have a cat at home.
Mark_Wolf Carol and I have been chatting about her experience of dealing with a diabetic german shepherd who eventually had to be put down.
Mark_Wolf How is Oso doing?
Mike_Pearson Much better. He began to improve avout 2 days after he started insulin. We're now 3 months into it and he's gained a little weight and regained his strength. His stamina is still iffy, but he seems happy.
Mark_Wolf When you took him in you didn't expect a diagnosis of diabetes, correct?
Mike_Pearson Correct. To be honest I thought maybe he had an intestinal virus. Diabetes was the last thing on my mind. I knew that cats got diabetes but not dogs.
carol Best of luck Mike. It's a tough road to go.
Mike_Pearson Carol, how old was your German sheperd?
carol She was 7 when diagnosed, almost 10 when we put her down. She developed laryngeal paralysis. Then got pneumonia.
Mike_Pearson Sorry to hear that. I guess my only concern now is what problems await Oso even being on insulin. Several people have e-mailed me about their dogs' blindness.
carol Yes, she lost her sight pretty quick. Just kept her on a leash and she was fine.
Mike_Pearson Oso is nine.
carol She loved to play frisbee. But switched to rolling a ball that had a bell in it. She could still find the ball and bring it back.
Mark_Wolf How does Oso tolerate the medicine and the shots?
ann_hoyt left.
Mike_Pearson Oso does really well with the shots. I hesitate to say that he likes them, but he never complains and usually comes over when he sees me preparing a syringe. I assume he feels better after the shots.
Mark_Wolf I once had to give daily vitamin-deficiency shots to a turtle for a couple of weeks. Not a pleasant task for either of us.
Mark_Wolf What kind of life expectancy issues do diabetic pets have?
Mike_Pearson How do you discover that a turtle is vitamin deficient? Do it's flippers stop working? The vet tells me life expectancy should be another 5-6 years. But that depends on whether complications develop.
Mark_Wolf You don't want to know about the turtle, which came to our house as a junior-higher's pet. The junior higher is now 29. Expect the turtle to outlive us all.
Mike_Pearson I had a cat like that. She was 22 when she finally died.
Mark_Wolf I was surprised to read in your sidebar with the vet that almost no one he's dealt with has decided to put their pet to sleep.
Mike_Pearson He says it was commonplace 30 years ago, but these days people have intergrated pets much more into the family. I think it's more likely (euthanasia) to happen with large animals with diabetes, like horses.
carol We didn't put her to sleep because of the diabetes. It was the pneumonia we couldn't get under control.
Mike_Pearson I think is a disease is treatable with medicine, there's no reason to put down an animal. For me and most pet owners, it's a quality of life issue. Oso is still happy and we still go to the park nightly.
Mark_Wolf Speaks a lot to how much pets become a part of our family.
Mark_Wolf Witness our outlaw turtle.
Mike_Pearson Indeed. Of course, if Oso were a goldfish I'm not sure I'd be as devoted.
Mark_Wolf Has there been an increase in pet diabetes? And what can owners do, if anything, to protect their pet?
Mike_Pearson Researchers hesitate to say there's been an increase because research in the field i sonly 30 years old. We do know there's been an increase among diabetic cats in the 1990s, but that number has come down as people do less free-feeding with their cats. Most cats develop diabetes due to obesity. With most dogs it' genetic.
Mike_Pearson What can you do to avoid it? Don't overfeed pets. As for the genetic component, that's in God's hands.
Mike_Pearson I should mention that diabetes only occurs in 1 1/2 to 2 percent of dogs and cats. If the percentage were higher someone would have won a Nobel Prie by now for treatment methods.
Mark_Wolf To jump species and seriousness, what do you make of Jay Leon's deal with
Mike_Pearson I'm intrigued by it. I like Leno. I think some of his routines like Jaywalking will work well at 9 p.m. at night. He plans to be on five nights a week. How long before he runs out of ideas, and will his new show draw viewers away from Conan? Imagine if when Leno took over The Tonight Show Johnny Carson had launched a 9 p.m. show?
Mark_Wolf I think you're right about siphoning buzz from Conan. And it's distressing to see the prime drama spot given over to reality comedy.
tex The Jonas Borthers bother me a lot...and Conan is great
tex I am also annoyed by the Biggest Loser
tex Jonas...sorry
Mark_Wolf I've long wondered if Conan has the wide appeal it's going to take to work at 10:30. Of course, people also said that about Letterman.
Mike_Pearson Did you see that the Screen Actors Guild is sending strike ballots to its members on Jan. 2? If it passes, Leno may be a godsend for a network reduced to reruns. I don't dislike the Jonas Brothers but I am amazed at their poplarity.
Mark_Wolf I can't imagine the actors going out on strike in this economy.
tex do they even write their own music?
Mark_Wolf Especially knowing what happened to the writers?
Mike_Pearson Conan will probably have to tweak his style for the Tonight Show crowd. May lose some college viewers to keep the gray-haired stalwarts.
Mike_Pearson Yes, we're still reeling from the writer's strike. But you know how actors are: It's about them, not us. Have a great day, Tex.
Mark_Wolf Heard two women in your part of the building talking about Oprah admitting she's gained weight and now weighs 200 pounds. Their response: We love her because she talks about it.
Mike_Pearson Yeah, I saw it being discussed on the web and other entertainment shows. Oprah has made it fashionable to be filthy rich and fat.Wish I could figure out how to make the filthy rich part work.
Mark_Wolf By the way, the Jonas Brothers do write nearly all their own music.
Mike_Pearson Speaking of writing music, I have to finish a blog.
Mark_Wolf One more thing: Is it just me or has Grey's Anatomy become nearly unwatchable?
Mike_Pearson I don't watch Grey's, but the buzz on the blogosphere has almost compelled me to tune it in. Something about Izzy having sex with her dead boyfriend? Creepy.
Mark_Wolf Thanks. Good luck to you and Oso.
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