Mork	Mork & Debbie

Mork came to us from the SPCA in the fall of 91, he was about a year maybe two when we got him and so that would make him 13 or 14 at most.

He weighs in now at 17 lbs but was 19.5 lbs before he was dx. Once he lost the weight even though he was never fat he never gained it back. I think a lot of the weight loss was actually muscle loss and wasting. At the lowest he was14 lbs. 

Mork was dx in the fall of 98 and had been having problems with wetting in the house which is what clued me in to the fact that something was wrong. It was right around a time change so I assumed he was having trouble adjusting and when longer walks and being let out at a later time didn't help I became very suspicious. A couple of years earlier he had a similar episode and I had taken him in for blood work then and nothing came of it, he stopped wetting in the house after the blood work and seemed fine.    I'm a groomer and had just put Mork on my table to give him his clip and just  about fell over, he was a bone rack! I couldn't believe it, the weight had fallen off so  fast. 

I'm fortunate in that I get to work with animals every day, and even though I am aware that diabetes happens in our pets I couldn't believe that it was happening to mine. Another clue was he had started having difficulty getting up the stairs and you could see that it took a Herculean effort for him to do that small task. I felt awful and even though I had all the clues in front of me it still took me a few weeks to get him help. 

The vet started us with Humulin NPH at a low dose and we worked our way slowly up, the first curve we attempted at the vets was a miserable failure 
because Mork whined and cried and barked unrelentlessly all day, paced and scratched to get out of his kennel and wouldn't eat for them. I knew then I would have to face my fears and start testing at home. It took many tries and two people in the beginning but now it's like second nature and Mork just rolls over and hands me his paw. That made so much difference as now I had the tool that could tell me how to help my dog, he was never stressed around me (discounting fireworks and lightening) but still his numbers were not the greatest. We tried several different types of insulin and did curves every weekend for months. 

We finally settled on Humilin Lente at 9 units bid and he's been on that for the last couple of years. At first I took Mork to work with me every day, actually the first couple of years with the exception of summer as it's way too hot for him at work and the kids were home to feed him then, at that time he was being fed 4 times a day to try and keep him on an even keel. He was always a hard one to regulate and I find that it is very elusive to keep perfect numbers even now and go more by how he's feeling than the numbers. 

Mork has had numerous problems with pancreatic attacks and was hospitalized once because of this. I tell you I have never seen a dog get so sick so fast.  What's really weird is Mork had never been sick a day in his life before dx, never even had a steroid. After dx he was being continually put on antibiotics for these flare ups. 

At one point he stopped eating and I was thinking he had given up, I tried cooking for him then and am so glad I did, it has made such a difference in how he feels, no more sick stomach and no more pancreatic flare ups. 

His schedule has changed now in that he's a house dog again, gets to stay home with his buddy Django. He eats twice a day with his shots 
and gets his cookies before bed, he is completely blind now and I have to be his seeing person more now than ever before. 

Another complication that came from having diabetes was a problem with his teeth and it was also a part of him not wanting to eat at one point. At two different times about six months apart one of back molars broke off in his mouth. They were hanging by a thread but my trying to dislodge them wasn't working. Both times it happened on a Sunday and he had to have emergency surgery the next day. 

Giving him shots and cooking for him and seeing that his needs are met have become second nature for me and I'm not sure what I'd do with out him, this 
diabetes thing had definitely gotten much easier to deal with as time has 
progressed and I find I don't freak out like I used too. Mork hasn't had to 
see the vet for months now, which is very unusual and I just hope this long 
spell of good health continues.

Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Mork changed insulins in September, 2002, after a major change that spring and the Lente stopped working so we switched him over to caninsulin.   Now he's got kidney problems and his diet has had to be changed again, I'm still using home cooking but have started putting canned kidney diet, just trying to maintain some balance in nutrition.

6 large boneless skinless chicken breast
8 cups of water
3 cups of brown rice
1 cup barley
1 cup oat bran a bit of regular oatmeal as a thickener if needed.
2 packages frozen chopped spinach
1 large can pumpkin
assorted veggies, celery for broth flavor, broccoli, carrots, green beans,
any kind of squash will help the fibre content too

In a 4 quart saucepan I start by boiling the chicken breast lightly in the 8 cups of water, enough to cook them but not boiled to death. Skim the fat, there shouldn't be much, I use a paper towel or if I use boned chicken will put it in the fridge overnight and pick off the cold fat. I was using an organic broth to flavor but found it had onions in it so am now making my own broth by adding celery, grated carotts and a smidge of salt for flavor. Add the rice and barley and cook till soft, usually 30 to 45 minutes, while this is cooking I'll be chopping th chicken into small peices and any veges that I'm going to use, you can try different ones and use different things, 

I've found Mork really likes change and gets bored with eating the same thing all the time. After the rice and barley are soft and well cooked add the oat bran and cook for five minutes, you'll need to keep a close eye at this point as it will burn and stick to the bottom of the pan. The mix should be nice and thick enough to form into balls, very sticky when warm and easier to handle once cooled off. If it's not thick enough add some oatmeal to thicken, the oatmeal only takes a couple of minutes to cook in. 

Mork is 17 lbs and I form  into ¾ cup balls and freeze, he gets one of these twice a day with a couple of teaspoons of cottage mixed in. He also gets 500 mg of Milk Thistle, 100 iu vitimin e,200 mcg chromium, 250 mcg vitimin b-12 , half a visorbits and Can-Addese which is a powder to help digestion. He gets all this twice a day with his meals. He also gets ¼ cup of dry food if his bg's are low, he's almost always high in the morning and low at night.