<p>I asked the vet but frankly I didnt understand what he was talking about.</p>
<p>I gave my dog 9 units of insulin this morning (fed him, too) and took him to the vet for a day’s worth of blood-testing. While he is there, he has no access to food.</p>
<p>(He ate and got his meds about 90 minutes before leaving home to go to the vet)</p>
<p>when I picked him up, the vet said that his first blood sugar check was very good…below 100…so obviously the insulin shot worked to bring down his blood sugar from breakfast 90plus minutes earlier.
but…as the day wore on, his blood sugar started shooting up…climbing to nearly 400 in the afternoon.</p>
<p>This confuses me. How can it shoot back up without a new food source? where is the sugar coming from. When I asked the vet, he said it is cause by a rebound effect. He said some more things that completely went over my head. </p>
<p>Mammals store glucose in their muscles in the form of glycogen and also in the form of body fat. Insulin is one of the hormones that control the conversion of muscle glycogen into glucose, which then enters into the bloodstream. Mammals strive for glucose homeostasis, in which the levels of blood sugar is kept at a fairly constant value. If there are problems with insulin synthesis or use, diabetes can result and blood sugar is not well-regulated. If glucose was not stored (as both fats and glycogen), mammals would need to eat constantly; instead, mammals can live quite a while off stored energy sources like glycogen and body fats. (Eventually muscle breakdown occurs.)</p>
<p>That’s scary! I have a newly diagnosed diabetic dog. I’m willing to give insulin shots, but not willing to test blood sugars. My vet pricks his ear and really has to squeeze to get the small amount of blood needed for testing. I take him in once each month to get this done. </p>
<p>mom2, was your dog having problems? Is that why you had to leave him for the day? How do you do your glucose checks? </p>
<p>I have a diabetic cat who took months to achieve normal blood sugar levels. The day long testing he had revealed that the insulin was bringing down the levels temporarily, but not maintaining. He went through this several times. Vet switched him to a different insulin, and eventually he normalized. I took him in for blood checks at least once a week for months! Now, he seems to be going into remission. He’s gone from 12 units of Lantus twice daily to one unit! I’m resigned to having to keep a close watch on him for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>the vet is thinking of changing his insulin. I dont test his glucose levels, that is why I bring him in a lot. at first, he went every week for three months…now about every two weeks.</p>