Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Little Sammy spent the entire Memorial Day weekend in the hospital because of a setback with his diabetes.

Early on Friday morning he started another round of obsessive/ compulsive drinking, and then suddenly his back legs began going out from underneath him and he became very wobbly.  He tried to be his normal self and rush back to his cottage, barking with excitement like he normally does, but even his bark was odd:  It was a deep, hoarse sound, completely different from his usual high-pitched bark.

We called our vets in Helena at Montana Veterinary Specialists and told them we were on our way.  With that, Alayne loaded Sammy in the truck and off she went.  Sammy had just been in the hospital a couple of weeks ago because of a similar but less serious episode; after a glucose curve test, our vets changed his insulin and we expected Sammy to be stable again.  Unfortunately, that was not to be.

This time it turned out Sammy had suffered something called … ready? … the "Somogyi effect".  This is when the body encounters first hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and then hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) in rapid succession.  It’s too much for the body to handle.

We’ve had diabetic animals before (ironically, including a cat named Sugar) and the disease had always been easy to manage with daily insulin injections.  Our vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, told us over the weekend that there are some diabetic animals who don’t achieve that level of stability, and the caregivers (and their vets) frequently need to refine and adjust the insulin dosage.  Brenda said it’s clear that Sammy just may be one of those cases.

Brenda and her husband Britt, who’s the internal medicine specialist in the clinic, have been caring for Sammy all weekend long, continually monitoring his glucose curve tests and calling us with updates.  They report he’s doing well, and expect we will be able to take him home on Wednesday.

We had planned to make this delightful little dog available for adoption after Memorial Day, but now we’ll need to hold off for a while and assess how he does.

(Click on photo for larger image.)