Our diabetic dog took over our kitchen

I’m the main cook and enjoy a well organized kitchen, so I worked closely with the designer to ensure that it met those requirements. And we made sure we had a bit of cupboard space set aside for dog food and treats, but that was the extent of it when it came to planning for Parker.

Reorganizing the kitchen for our diabetic dog

Fast forward to today and he has a small tray on the counter, two drawers in the kitchen island, about ⅕ of the pantry, and part of a shelf in the garage for the large bag of dry food. He also has a small container in the fridge with his insulin and light cream cheese we use to administer his twice-a-day hypothyroid pills.

The tray on the counter holds a glass jar with a few days' supply of kibble and a container of treats broken into small pieces.

The top drawer in the island is quite shallow and has everything needed to test his blood glucose, including a winter glove heater and backup rice sock to warm up his ear; a PetTest Genteel lancing device and lancets; AlphaTrack3 blood glucose monitor and test strips (gee these are expensive).
‍
It also contains what we need to administer his insulin, including needles and alcohol wipes, and various medications as he’s on a daily regimen of three types of eye drops. Parker had cataracts early in his diabetic diagnosis and despite a successful operation eventually had to have one eye removed.

The deeper drawer below contains a sharps container, his tick and heart worm prevention chews, medicine we are not currently using but may need down the road, and his sitter guide.

Parker's Pantry

Parker’s various low carb treats are in the pantry, along with boxes of extra testing/injecting supplies that would impress an inventory control manager or Amazon warehouse employee. We learned from the Pandemic that suppliers can run out of important products, so we always keep a couple months’ inventory on hand.

We also have emergency supplies in case his blood glucose heads into a dangerous zone. There’s a jar of honey with his name on it and some carb-rich treats that we can use to raise his BG by a small amount within an hour if he’s getting too low. These are kept separate from his other treats and marked with clear instructions.

Keeping things cool

Parker’s insulin vial is quite small and would easily get lost in the fridge, likely hiding behind a partially used jar of red pepper jelly or working its way to the back over the course of a day. So we keep his insulin and a spare along with a small container of cream cheese in a bento box lunchbox. It has two compartments that fit his insulin vials and packs easily when we’re on the go.

Peace of mind

If something should happen to us, we want Parker to be well cared for. As you probably know, diabetic dogs require more than the average dog. If we’re not around, it gives us peace of mind that whoever has to look after Parker will be able to find everything easily and not have to purchase something they’ve never bought before.

‍