04/06/2024
I don’t share my personal pets often enough. This was a hard one for me.
My Harley, 4 year old Yorkie, started having accidents in the house. The amount of urine was insane! I took him to the vet right away. They did blood work and confirmed my suspicions. Harley was diabetic. We started insulin immediately. It is our new lifestyle to schedule things around his “shots”. We had to go back to the vet every 2 weeks for glucose and frutosimine (dog equivalent to A1C). After 2 weeks of insulin, several doggy pads that were unable to soak up the massive amounts of urine, ruined flooring and subfloor, his levels were still very high. Glucose was still 548 (supposed to be under 200) and his frutosimine was was 364 (supposed to be between 117-314). We adjusted again and 2 weeks later, we checked again frutosimine was 414 and we finally slowed the amount of urine. Less than a week later, Harley lost his vision.
It is a whole lifestyle change for everyone, he runs into walls, we have to have barriers up in front of the stairs, he did fall down them, us learning ways to help him adapt.
He has always been somewhat of a Velcro dog, but not compared to what he is now. He doesn’t play with his naughty little sister anymore, he just wants constant reassurance.
The reason for this post, trust your instincts if you think something is wrong, take them to the vet. It was a matter of a week that I could get him into in order to be checked and he progressed very quickly.
Also, a dog is for life, he will never be rehomed, he will not be put down because he isn’t “perfect”. He will be loved and we will adapt and grow together until we get this ugly disease figured out for him. Love my Harley Dean forever!
