Exploring an Autoregression for Insulin Dosage
My dog Sudo has diabetes. In humans, that is quite manageable. Constant monitoring of blood sugar levels and insulin dosage is required, but many tools exist to help with this and – importantly – are covered by medical insurance. The situation with dogs tends to be more challenging. Fewer tools are available and many people don’t have medical insurance for their dogs. According to our local vet, this unfortunately leads to many dogs being euthanized instead of cared for. Care for the dogs themselves is more challenging as well. The process for establishing Sudo’s dose was as follows: for about two weeks, he wore a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and we recorded his blood sugar levels. We then used that data to determine his insulin dosage. We settled on one specific dog food that he would get the same amount twice a day, every day so that his carb intake stays stable. We administer insulin twice a day with his food. The vet used that data to generate a dosing table. Most people apparently just use a fixed dose twice daily, because some dogs are not particularly fond of blood sugar sticks and CGM is expensive. Sudo has been doing well with the blood sugar pricks, so we have generally been able to use adjustment doses as recommended. ...