I'm in the process of treating an elderly diabetic dog(diabetes in dogs is manifested very closely to the one in humans) and constantly hitting the wall of ethics(in my view) regarding human-dog relations with the veterinarians.
To detail, around 4-5 vets that I have seen in the past months suggest a certain treatment. That consisting of using a certain drug named caninsulin, which fails heavily(in my view) to keep the blood glucose level between 5-10 mmol/L(as humans aim, when they have diabetes). In the human treatment of diabetes, the doctors change the insulin until their patients can keep their blood glucose level between 5 and 10 mmol/L. Poor glycemic control in people has proven to create physical pain(as headaches, thirst, increased hunger) and fatal injury to other organs(his kidneys did not look good on ultrasound).
They would not want to change to another insulin, that I suggest, due to the fact, that they strongly believe that that would ruin my dog's quality of life(we would have to give him 3-4 subcutaneous injections, instead of 2, but that's it). Also, they strongly believe that if I check his blood glucose levels with a glucometer, I'm again ruining heavily his quality of life. I can swear and show to anyone that he is not bothered at all by the glucose tests or insulin injections and rather, I see him very restless when he is hypoglicemic due to the poor glucose control(He is barking his guts of for food, common symptom of hypoglicemia). They are also saying that I'm doing far too much for him, suggesting that I have some kind of mental ilness, and my thoughts on that are that, again, are, that it's a subjective matter, which they are unable to judge due to the lack of information on my interactions with the dog(e.g. memories as a child playing with him).
Today, I've made the statement to one of these vets that their suggestion is heavily subjective(keeping in mind their assesment of the dog's quality of life). The vet immediately replied that it is not a mather of ethics(I suppose that would make his statements true and a good examples of facts of our real world).
Is the suggested treatment a matter of ethics or not?(What is your opinion?)
Are the vets implying that I should see him as subhuman and treat him subhumanely?
Note that my questions points mostly to ethics.