Once my dog has been started on insulin therapy, what monitoring tests will be necessary?
When insulin therapy is first started, we will need to monitor your dog’s blood glucose values frequently. Typically, this involves serial blood or serum glucose determinations, often in the form of a glucose curve. To obtain a glucose curve, your dog will need to be hospitalized for the day. He will be fed his usual amount of food and given his prescribed insulin dosage. Blood samples will then be taken every 2 hours throughout the day, and the results will be plotted on a graph. This will show how well the insulin is controlling his blood glucose, when the insulin reaches its peak effect, and how long the action of the insulin lasts. While further adjustments in your dog’s insulin dosage will undoubtedly need to be made, the blood glucose curve is valuable in evaluating your dog’s response to the prescribed insulin product. At home, one of the most simple and important things you can do for your dog is to monitor his appetite, water consumption, energy level, and urine output. Any ch
