James- Although I respect that you are successfully managing your diabetes, dogs are different than humans and I think your suggestions are questionable for someone who doesn’t have a vet well-versed in diabetes. First of all, nph insulin most closely resembles the insulin dogs naturally produce which is different from humans. Most dogs are well maintained on this type of insulin and are not”impossible” to control at all. The short acting insulin(R) is sometimes needed for dogs that have insulin resistance but this dog has not had enough time to be regulated and to determine if resistance is the issue. Regardless of the insulin, diabetic dogs should be fed the same amount at the same time every day. To imply anything else is ridiculous. People who have had long term success managing their dog’s disease live by this principle. As far as food goes, a variety of different diets have been proven to work well for a diabetic dog but with Cushings (or pancreatitis like my dog) , a high fat diet is not recommended. A diet with “cheap” carbs is, of course, not good either. I prefer a food like Nutrisca because there is no potato or tapioca or rice or grain and my dog (dx five years now) thrives on it like no other food. Complex carbs work well with the nph insulin and they are necessary to have stable glucose levels throughout the day. There is an excellent article in the Whole Dog Journal which addresses diabetic diets and includes case studies of many dogs on a wide range of diets- raw, commercial, prescription, home-cooked and the success stories of those dogs. Diabetes is not a one size fits all with dogs and many times, you can analyze foods and labels and ingredients until you are blue in the face but you don’t get the results that you should. Personally, I think there are so many factors – metabolism, age, stress, infection or disease, etc that factor in.
