Say an extra prayer when reading this week's who am I email that Wilson is feeling better and that he will adjust easily to what the future holds for him.

My name is Annette, I am married to Matt and we have a daughter aged 5 and a son aged 3.  We live in Solihull which is a suburb of Birmingham in England.

We got Wilson from a breeder when he was 6 months old.  She had kept him out of a litter to show but decided his eyes were too light (???)  We got him as a companion for our shepherd mix, Barney, and they were the best of friends from day one.

Straight away we had problems with Wilson's bowels and after trying many different foods and running lots of tests we found out he had inflammatory bowel disease.  We got this under control and shortly after that we noticed he was weeing a lot and losing weight.  He had lost 5kg (11lbs) in one week and blood tests showed he was diabetic.  It had never crossed my mind that he might be as he was young, fit and not overweight.  We have since found out that 2 of his littermates are diabetic and a dog from a previous litter to the same parents is diabetic too so it must be genetic in his case.

He had surgery for cataracts in 2001 (I think!) which was successful and gave him another 6 years of almost perfect vision.  In 2007 he developed glaucoma and despite our best efforts, lost an eye.  His sight isn't great in his remaining eye but he sees enough to get around the house OK.  He has arthritis in all four legs for which he wears a magnet therapy collar and occasionally some Rimadyl if he's having an 'off' day.  He has also suffered from countless urine infections, several eye ulcers, malabsorption.... I could go on but you'll be reading this all day!!

In 2005 we lost our old boy, Barney to lung cancer and Wilson was miserable.  We had already enquired about a litter of tailed rotties and were able to get Chester within a few weeks.  Chester is a bit too bouncy for Wilson most of the time so he tends to stay out of his way but they do play together in the garden.

Wilson will celebrate his 8th sugarversary in June.  There have been lots of ups and downs along the way but its been worth it, he really is a star.  Before his diabetes he worked as a Pets as Therapy dog and we visited children with severe disabilities.  Through all the tests and operations he has had he has always remained the perfect gentleman, he has never grumbled once.

The photos show him as a young healthy boy(the top photo in the email) and a more recent one with his younger (and considerably more bouncy) brother, Chester.

Diabetic Pet's Name: Wilson 

Breed: Rottweiler 

Birth: 18 March 1998 

When Diagnosed: June 2000 

Age Diagnosed: 2 years 

Weight: around 100lbs/48kg 

Kind of Insulin and Amount Per Injection: Insuvet Lente, he has 55 units twice a day 

Food: Eukanuba Senstitive Digestion 

Do you hometest?(blood, urine and/or observation) Mainly observation of drinking/weeing but blood test if concerned 

Other Health Problems? Where do I start.... IBD, arthritis, glaucoma..... 

Webpage of Pet:  http://www.caninediabetes.org/wilson.html 

Your Location: England (UK) 

How did the diagnosis of diabetes in your pet change your life? Found lots of wonderful people online!!!  At first I was terrified and would look downstairs every morning expecting him to have passed in the night.  I don't know how I would have coped if it weren't for the wonderful people on diabetespet and rainbowbridge.
 

Thanks Annette for taking time to participate in this weekly feature.  What a story of encouragement for new members. Wilson was diagnosed in the year 2000 so will soon be celebrating his eight surgarversary!!

If you would like to participate in the Who am I? emails
then contact one of the moderators listed at the bottom of this email
write an introduction, send a picture of your pet
The moderator will send you the blank questions to fill in
Then the moderator will post your email for you....One will be going out every
Monday Morning....This way each pet is the star for a week.
Michael will take the email and turn it into a pdf file and upload it to the
website

Judy Dick
Email:  queenie@mnsi.net

Karen Baldassarre
Email:  kbal37@comcast.net

Michael Jay Smith
Email: smithmj@clearwire.net

Bonnie Iovine
Email: biovine@comcast.net

Josephine
Email: curaduk@aapt.net.au

Jane, Lee and Margo have a lot on their plates right now so the above moderators are available to do the Who am I Email?