I am new to all this and not sure how to post questions etc... My problem is my dog Marmaduke has diabetes. We found this out about a month ago and have been trying to get him under controll with insulin shots. This is a very diffucult thing to accomplish each day, but we have been managing. Marmaduke has started biting whenever we try to give him his shot. To distract him I have tried feeding him baked chicken, dog jerky, cat food (at the vet's suggustion) and this worked for a time , but now he know's whats coming...HELP!. I know alot of people have to deal with this, but I don't know what else to do. Does anyone know of alternative medicines besides injections? or any new tricks i can try on him, I am so worried and frustrated with myself I am actually crying as I write this...silly to some maybe, but he means the world to me and I don't want to lose him. Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. This seems to be a great place, I'm glad I found it. Thanks for any help.

You will have to enlist the help of another person to do this. Make sure you have a lot of time the first few sessions-- as much as an hour. Call Marmaduke and, instead of trying to give him a shot right away, just pet him and caress and massage him everywhere he likes, just the way he likes. Get him really relaxed and calm-- calm and submissive. Get him to where he is so relaxed, he could be asleep real fast. When you think he has achieved this state of mind, have your helper give the injection while you continue to massage Marmaduke. This will create a positive experience he associates with the injections. If you do it right, he will be so relaxed he will not notice the shot. Good luck, I hope that works for you!

Stop using food as a distraction before you give the injection. Give the injection first, followed by giving the food. In time he'll associate the injection with getting a reward.

With your vet's approval, you can also try the old peanut butter trick. Smear a small amount of peanut butter on his nose, and while he's licking that off, give him the injection. Then give him a yummy treat.

To answer the other question about other medications; no, dog's don't respond to the oral medications that are often used to treat diabetes in humans. Diet and exercise can help, though. Along with injecting insulin daily, keeping his weight under control can help a lot.

Originally Posted by vetgroomer

Stop using food as a distraction before you give the injection. Give the injection first, followed by giving the food. In time he'll associate the injection with getting a reward.

With your vet's approval, you can also try the old peanut butter trick. Smear a small amount of peanut butter on his nose, and while he's licking that off, give him the injection. Then give him a yummy treat.

To answer the other question about other medications; no, dog's don't respond to the oral medications that are often used to treat diabetes in humans. Diet and exercise can help, though. Along with injecting insulin daily, keeping his weight under control can help a lot.

Usually injections for dogs, when done into the skin, are not that bad unless it has to be injected into the muscle.<br><br> My Boxer is on heart medication but he takes it by mouth.

Good luck with your dog's health ...

Thank's for the advice, I never thought of the peanut butter trick. it makes sense to give him a treat after his shot. we will give it a try, thank-you

I just found this site too, so I am also new. My dog was dxd in January 2008 with diabetes at 9 years of age. Believe it or not, it gets easier with the shots. I was doing them myself for a while. He started with only one shot a day. Then I had my husband help but that was too stressful as my husband was too rough and tried to hold him down. So I went back to doing it by myself again, and trying to ease my dog by being soft spoken and loving the whole time. It was hard and I cried too, cause my dog is my heart also. Then something happened and he wsa all out of whack and sick for about a week and ended up on 2 shots a day. This is better at regulating him. He is on Vetsulin. Now my husband scratches Sam's back when I give him his shot and that works wonderfully. Sam knows when Mommy goes into the fridge to get his medicine and he goes right for Daddy to scratch him. So it does get better with the shots. It will always be a struggle in one way or another because they rely on us to know what is going on with them and it is hard to see our babies suffer sometimes. I just took Sam in yesterday for a 6 month check up with blood work and every thing was good. I am going through a period of him not wanting to eat though, so that is hard. I cook his food because the food on the market, in my opinion, is full of stuff that I don't know what is, so he gets what I feed him and a few bought treats because he loves those, and right now that is about all he will eat. Stress causes a lot of problems with our babies. He just went on a trip with us, and we also added a kitten to the family, so he is adjusting to things. Anyway, hope that helps a little. Time passes and shots will become a part of daily routine. Have you been to the canine diabetes web site? They can help too. Also, get a glucometer so you can check your dog's sugar when you need to. They make them for animals. You can find a link on the canine diabetes site. Good luck.

Originally Posted by rgjr979

Usually injections for dogs, when done into the skin, are not that bad unless it has to be injected into the muscle.<br><br>

I know many people believe "...it's not that bad." But I've seen way to many dogs react to the poke to believe that they all think it's not that bad. A lot of dogs are stoic, and won't let on that it hurts. But some of them are not stoic, and do let you know it hurts.

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