Thanks so much for sharing your insight and experience. Doc & I set up the appointment for the glucose test today.
Are you doing any at home glucose testing?
Not at this time. Doc & I will discuss maintenance options when my dog has his glucose curve test.
Home monitoring with a glucometer is essential. I woudnāt wait to start testing. In my experience blindly giving insulin is a recipe for disaster.
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Do you have a particular glucometer test set you recommend to use?
No. Itās been over a decade since Iāve had a diabetic dog. But, any of them should work. There were also forums for diabetic dogs that might be more up on the latest stuff if they are still active. You might consider googling around.
You really want the glucose range kept to be as tight as possible to keep the dog as healthy as possible. That is going to be your goal and the only way to know is to test. Youāll do it a lot until you know your dog and how they respond to food and insulin. Never give R insulin to a dog.
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Indeed, I had a diabetic cat and I canāt fathom dosing insulin with out testing first.
So very much can go wrong.
Perfect, thank you.
If I am 100% objective heās actually had a good week. Eating, toileting and getting around well, albeit he bumps into things. He wags his tail when I call his name so that is good. An animals ability to quietly adapt is something to behold. Itās been harder on me. 
His sidekick, the poodle cross is still in a funk. Still walks with a Labrador tail and not his flipped up tail. Itās like he thinks he broke his buddy. They use to spar all the time and now they donāt.
Thanks for asking!
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When is your curve at the vets?
Glad to hear heās doing a bit better.
For me, with my cat, diabetes is a marathon not a sprint. The first few months, getting used to testing, etc can seem overwhelming, but it gets way easier once youāre over the hump and get in a routine.
My sweet diabetic kitty
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What a pretty ginger kitty!! I have 3 gingers and I didnāt pick out one of them. One is a stray that moved in and the other 2 are from helping out friends who needed homes for their kitties.
My dog is doing well. The glucose curve test is a week from Monday. I hadnāt thought of it as a marathon but that is an excellent analogy!!
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Thanks for checking in. The levels were not where Doc had anticipated/hoped they would be so we are upping the insulin just a smidge and will recheck in 2 or 3 weeks. Otherwise my lil guy is doing well. Heās adjusting to his cataracts. Makes me sad though.
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This was one test of glucose from a blood draw, not a curve looking at a 12 hour period of tests every two hours?
So no home testing recommended?
I wonder what the hesitation is with that?
Iād be very uncomfortable dosing or increasing a dose of insulin without immediate feedback and monitoring of the effects it has.
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While I donāt disagree with you, my vet very much followed the same protocol. My understanding is diabetes in dogs and cats are worlds apart despite being the same in many ways. We did opt to pay the extra for the FreeLibre monitor for our dog, especially in the first 6-8 months while we learned her patterns. It got to the point where I could pretty much guess her levels within 10 points no matter the time of day because I got to know the curve so well. So now she is on a pretty level dose (down to 2.5 instead of the 5 we had to have in the beginning).
I may have already mentioned this, but I soak a batch of chia seeds each week and she gets about a tablespoon on top of her food twice a day. They are supposed to help regulate blood sugar and they do seem to be working! We never went with the diabetic food, we opted for a weight control food instead with our vetās blessing (no worries about running out because of a missing or late prescription this way). We use the CORE Wellness brand canned weight control since itās easily obtainable both locally and through Chewy. She also gets a few green beans and a couple pieces of cooked sweet potatoes with her food to help keep her fiber intake high so sheās not acting like we are starving her all the time. 
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I trust my vet who entered the veterinarian field 18 years ago after being a human surgical nurse for a few years.
She did talk about watching my dog closely as we increased the dose the small amount. Her home & practice are just 15 minutes from me should any emergency need arise. Also, I worked for her for 4 years and Iāve seen firsthand how effective she is.
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I tested my dog every 4 hours. I pretty quickly found out that it didnāt matter how much insulin I gave her, any amount of food shot her numbers up over 400.
Iām glad that I was testing enough to manage it. It gave me a few more months with her before she inevitably wound up in DIC.
I understand you are passionate about this, as are many of us who deal with diabetic pets. But the pets in question are under responsible veterinary care. It would be neat if you could just support that. I can find an article online to justify just about any point of view Iām seeking, but it doesnāt mean itās good science.
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