So your cat has been diagnosed with diabetes...
In winter, 2006, my pride and joy best furbuddy was growing sick, and I began to understand it was serious. He was 12 at the time and at first I just thought it was aging/arthritis related. What I noticed was he seemed to be losing strength in his rear legs, with less and less ability to even go up stairs. Then I noticed him sleeping much more than usual, being constantly hungry, and other odd symptoms such as lots of dander in his coat. This didn't happen suddenly, but after watching his behavior continue to change and determining we needed to see the vet, I cried as I sat with him the night before the appointment thinking this was going to be a good bye for us soon.
Truth be told, he *was* dying, in a slow and painful way. I'm still mad with myself that I didn't recognize this somehow sooner. So, there I was in the vet's office, when she came back in after doing a simple urine test with an initial diagnosis. She drew a deep breath, and said something along the lines of "I have some bad news..." I was ready and nodded. "He has diabetes." Instantly my mind was racing, and I almost smiled with relief. I know this sounds odd, because despite my relatively little knowledge at the time about the disease, certainly in pets, I had thought "Ok. This will be work, but we can do something about this." I guess the vet had prefaced the news since for many pet owners it seems a daunting challenge, and some or many decide it is not something they can take on...
We talked over his initial treatment and what to expect. In short, I was to give insulin injections 2x a day, and make dietary changes to a special food in the office. Armed with a few pamphlets, we left. I would get further information from the blood test results in a day or so.
I began reading everything I could find on the Internet. The result of that searching, and his subsequent months of treatment is what I'll share with you here in this lens.
Today, my buddy is 13, alert, able to jump up to our high bed like before, and I haven't given him an insulin shot in over a year. While there's no miracle in his situation, and he is not cured, his quality of life has returned to very close to before his diagnosis. We will have to watch his condition for the rest of his life. I can't promise your dear kitty will have similar results as there are many factors involved, but I will try to get you to the information you need to know to make good choices about how to take care of your cat with this disease.
Update 08/22/08 - Just thought I'd let you all know he is back on 2u's of insulin 2x a day again. But he's now 14 and otherwise very alert and healthy. He is definitely slowing down, and spends more time sleeping as any aging cat does, but the diabetes isn't yet hindering his quality of life. We're thrilled to have him doing so well 2.5 years after his original diagnosis. Unfortunately, we still haven't figured out how to stop time...
Update May, 2009 - A second update, he's now 15 and still doing well, enjoying his usual activities. He goes on nightly "hunts" for stuffed cat toys that he brings to us - perhaps remembering his early years where he was an indoor/outdoor cat (he's been an indoor only cat for most of his life). He's still aging, but that seems to have little to do with his diabetes. At this point we feel he has had a full cat life, and we'll do our best to give him a peaceful ending, whenever that may be. Thankfully for us, there are no indications this will be soon!
The basics
Symptoms:
-Heavy drinking (of water - hopefully your kitty stays away from the hard stuff). This can be tricky to see in multicat households (which we are), hot seasons, and is actually a symptom of other diseases too.
-Loss of weight with healthy appetite. The energy of the food is quite simply not getting absorbed.
-Heavy urination
-Sleepyness and lethargy
-Weak hind legs
-Poor fur condition
Untreated, it will eventually cause death.
What causes it? See my next rant, below...
Neuropathy in cats
Etiology of diabetes...
Certainly, there is a genetic component to this disease. But, in a nutshell, we may be causing it by what we feed. Here's what I wrote some time ago on another site about how critical nutrition is in cats, to prevent and minimize the effects of many diseases, including diabetes:If you have a cat, PLEASE consider feeding them canned foods instead of dry, and finding out what is IN their food - this means doing a little bit of research, but it is not difficult.
Cats should be eating mostly meat and fats, not carbohydrates, which almost all dry foods have in too high a ratio. Even many canned formulations have very high carb to protein ratios. Some cat owners have even started to make their own food, but we decided to find another commercial food that would more closely mimic the natural diet. I was feeding my two cats a good, name brand dry food. I now believe it contributed to my older cat's getting diabetes, and maybe has predisposed my younger cat to it. Luckily we caught the disease before major organ damage had been done (such as to the kidneys).
In the end we found certain flavors of Fancy Feast (canned) that our cats like and that we can find readily to work the best for us. I'd like to try making our own sometime, but until then this is working well for us.
Here are some links that will explain it better than I could.
Cat Nutrition dot org
Catinfo site
Use the tables below to compare protein and carb ratios of commercial cat food:
Formulations of canned food
Formulations of dry food
On the above, take a careful look at how the "diet" foods are formulated. They are NOT less carbs.
I doubt it would prevent all cats from getting diabetes, but it certainly would reduce the chances.
It's not impossible to treat, but it is very costly initially (usually because some chronic or urgent health problem has emerged as a side effect of the diabetes).
Treatment requires very diligent attention to the blood sugar levels, insulin shots, and a lot of trial with hopefully little error. Though many cats will go on to be quite healthy after getting the blood sugars understood and predictable, it is a care condition that remains with the cat for the rest of it's life and is work to keep in balance.
Be informed. Our pets give us immeasurable joy, and rely upon us to do what is right for them.
Blog Posts from Google
- Feline Diabetes Prevention Tips
- Feline diabetes is a serious chronic illness that affects the health of more and more cats. Fortunat...
- Managing Feline Diabetes with a Low Carbohydrate Diet
- A feline diabetes diet that is low in carbohydrates can help control or reverse the disease by preve...
- Any one know anything about juvenile feline diabetes?
- I got my Kitten when he was 8 weeks aged as well as whe he was about 6 months aged i took him to get...
- Feline Diabetes Prevention Tips
- Feline diabetes is a serious chronic illness that affects the health of more and more cats. Fortunat...
Feline diabetes books and supplies
EZ Smart Pluse Diabetes Monitoring System, Includes Free Test Strips, Lancets and Control Solution.
We have a differnet model meter, and you can find these at your local drugstore as well. Be aware, each kind has a proprietary test strip so make sure to get a kind you'll be able to find locally.
UltiCare U-40 .5cc x 29g Insulin Syringe for Pet Diabetes
Check with your vet to make sure what U syringe to use (some vets may use U-100), but these are the ones we use and they work great. The needle is very fine and the plunger is reliable. Never reuse syringes!
Feline diabetes links
- Gorbzilla - for Sugar kitties
- Founded by a diabetic feline owner, this site has a lot of great information on the disease.
- Feline Diabetes site and forum
- Extremely knowledgeable folks here, all of whom have or had extra sweet cats. I learned much of what I now know from the gurus here.
- Wikipedia article
- Wikipedia has an exhaustive description of feline diabetes, and is a good place to read up.
- Your Diabetic Cat
- Written by a vet, this is a very comprehensive site.
So what did we do?
For the time he was not on shots, we tested very infrequently. Unfortunately, at our annual vet visit this year (2008), the vet did a urine historical analysis which showed his blood sugars were fluctuating too much again, so he's gone back on the insulin which worked well for him before.
We use a very specific routine to do the shots and tests. We sometimes give a small treat *and* always fresh canned food after so that he associates the negatives (pokings) with positives (food, and he does love food).
The process is a little nerve wracking until you learn the effects of the particular insulin your vet has prescribed, as well as its actions on your particular cat. This is the "art" to the medical science. But stick with it, and your kitty should do very well!
Questions about feline diabetes?
Please share your experiences with feline diabetes with our readers! Or, ask me a question and I'll try to answer it or refer you to some information which can.
CosmeticMom wrote...
Wonderful Job! Our Cat is needs His insulin adjusted, but doing pretty well for being 16! I will check out the links you provided! 5 Stars my Feline loving Friend :)
Posted June 22, 2009
KimGiancaterino wrote...
Great information, and good news about your kitty. I'm featuring this on my Smart Cat Box lens, which is about a litter box designed for cats with diabetes. Squid Angel Blessed.
Posted August 19, 2008
by PatriotAlpacas
Hi there, I'm Tasha. I live in northern Massachusetts, where we have a small farm with alpacas and chickens. I am particularly interested in topics o... (more)
