How can I best care for my diabetic insulin-dependent dog without losing my mind (and all my money)?

I typed in "Financial assistance for diabetic dogs" and saw lots of results. From what I know about someone who reached out to these types of groups for support, it requires a good deal of contacting all you can, but it well worth the time (in that case thousands of dollars of care). There may be local and/or breed specific group worth contacting.

Here's one link to start with: http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/needhomes...

If you search small/toy dog (or poodle) groups in your local area, you may find other toy poodle lovers that would gladly help you, without you having to give him up, I'd suggest maybe www.meetup.com might help.

What prescription food are you feeding? I have learned in my years at working in a pet store that often prescription foods are not actually that great in quality. There is a food called Nulo I highly recommend looking into. It is low in glycemic index and great for diabetic dogs! I am not sure how it compares in price to your current food, however because such a great amount of protein comes from animal sources like eggs and meat instead of peas you don't feed as much as a lot of other foods because your dog is retaining more nutrients! Some pet stores will price beat others or have coupons/other deals. You may even be able to contact Nulo for a manufacturers coupon!

I have a 7 year old yellow lab with diabetes. She receives insulin shots twice a day...but our vet never said that they have to be given exactly 12 hours apart - just twice a day and always with food. She's been doing fine for the last 2 years. Every so often I feed her in the morning and then drop in at the vet around 1:00 and they check her blood sugar to make sure everything looks good.

We only buy insulin at WalMart, because it is the cheapest at $24. My vet also recommended a raw diet or commercial food with a high protein content.

Hope that helps!

This is going to sound odd, but what do you feed? I've consulted a lot of customers of mine with diabetic dogs over the years but diabetes is often caused or exacerbates by a high carbohydrate diets. Here's a simplified explanation of what happens in the body when a dog has diabetes

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/causes-canine-diabetes/ (http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/...)

of course I don't recommend getting off the insulin, but if you're feeding any dry food with grain especially a prescription food which I loathe, it's most likely contributing to your dogs problems. I had several of my customers diabetes go to near remission after switching to a raw diet. If I were you, I would find a qualified holistic vet that specializes in nutrition and get a second opinion about your dogs condition.

I don't think the dosing needs to be that inflexible. The recommendations at the vet hospitals I've worked at have been to give the insulin with meals, but it doesn't have to be a strict every 12 hours.