I got this shot the other day of Teddy with Dexter and Bailey, all sharing a dog bed in the kitchen. It wasn't feeding time … they had just found a comfy spot to hang out. Teddy has very much settled in — he's got his routine down and is quick to let us know what he wants. He's even starting to really put on weight, so much so that when we run our hands along his ribs, we don't feel them stick out like they used to. In another couple of weeks I bet we won't feel his ribs at all. His spine is still very bony and is clearly going to take longer to fill out.
But one thing that has filled out entirely is his tummy. He's so rotund that we now call him Buddha Belly. You can actually see it in that photo.
While we're making significant progress on his weight, his diabetes continues to be a challenge. We still don't have him regulated. After a spike in his glucose level on Saturday prompted a call to our vet, Dr. Jennifer Rockwell, we ran a mini-curve yesterday evening and are in the middle of doing a full day's curve today — measuring his glucose levels every two hours. We'll give the data to Jennifer on Monday, and she'll decide whether we should adjust his insulin dose again.
One factor that might be at play here is his dental problems. When we first got Teddy and found out he had diabetes, we were going to do a dental on him right away, because dental disease and the associated bacteria can make it harder to regulate diabetes. But then we found out about his much more serious bladder stone and gallbladder problems, and that major surgery had to take precedence over doing the dental work. Our vets didn't do his teeth during the surgery because it would have meant keeping him under anesthesia even longer, which would have increased the risk. And then we needed to have him fully recuperated from that operation before doing anything more to him.
Yet now his dental problems could be the "wild card" that's still preventing us from getting him stable, so we're going to be taking him back to the clinic to get that work done. We worry, of course, about putting him under anesthesia again, but it looks like that's a risk we're going to have to take.
Meanwhile, Mr. Buddha Belly gets his tummy rubbed quite frequently.
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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