Feline Diabetes - Signs and Steps

It's a sinking feeling when your vet tells you your cat has diabetes.  At BCR, Chester (left), was diagnosed with it and there have been other cats who had the same condition. While you may panic at first, work with your vet and you'll soon know exactly how to handle it.

Just like humans, cats may develop Type I or Type II diabetes.  When a cat is diabetic, its body doesn't produce enough insulin to absorb the glucose in its bloodstream, which is one of its body's main fuel sources.  In Type II diabetes, which is more common in cats, the body doesn't respond to the presence of insulin, with the same results. 

What puts a cat at risk of getting diabetes?  Once again, the risk factors are very close to those for humans.  The most common are obesity, aging and inactivity.  Some cat breeds are more prone to it as well.  By the time your vet diagnoses your cat with diabetes, there may have been some signs along the way that would tell you this was happening.  So, what should you look for in your cat's behavior?

The first is dramatic weight loss when your usually hale and hardy cat suddenly gets thinner.  With diabetes, the cat's body cannot absorb the glucose for energy so it tries to break down fat and protein cells to get that energy.  Even if your cat appears to eat more than usual, he'll still lose weight if he's diabetic.

The second major sign is drinking water excessively.  Too much glucose in the blood causes the cat's body to shed a lot more of it in its urine, which at the same time pulls in extra fluid from the body, increasing the amount of urine.  If this is going on with your cat, you'll find a lot more urine in the litterbox, too.  The more dehydrated your cat becomes with this going on, the more he'll drink water.  A third and rarer sign of unmanaged diabetes is when a cat stands "flat-footed" on his hind legs, called "plantegrade" stance, and is due to nerve damage in a cat's hind legs.

If you're concerned that your cat might be diabetic, your vet will run blood and urine tests on your cat to measure the glucose present in each.  Believe it or not, some cats experience "white coat syndrome" just like people do, which can cause a stress-related temporary spike in blood glucose.  Vets can get around that by running another test that measures the fructosamine molecules in the cat's blood.  Fructosamine is present in cats with diabetes but isn't affected by a cat's level of stress.

If your cat tests positive, what do you do?

The goal for all treatments is to get the blood glucose number back where it should be.  Your cat will certainly need a low-carbohydrate diet and there are many brands on the market to choose from.  How much you feed your cat will depend on whether or not it experienced weight loss as it developed diabetes.  If he's underweight you'll need to feed him multiple times a day, whereas, with overweight at, you'll need to start a controlled food plan.  Your vet will help you figure out how much your cat should eat and at what time.

You will also probably need to give your cat insulin shots.  While it may seem like a horrible prospect for you and your cat, it can be done with little discomfort to your cat.  Your vet can teach you the best technique.  To figure out exactly what time of day your cat needs insulin, your vet may do a 12-24 hour glucose curve.  In this process, the vet gives the cat intermittent insulin during the time frame and at the same time measures the blood glucose level.  This will help determine what kind if insulin will work best and the frequency of delivery doses.  It will also help avoid causing a big dip in blood glucose, which can also be dangerous for cats.  

Diabetic cats can live long and healthy lives if their condition is monitored and managed by responsible and loving pet owners working with their veterinarian. Sometimes, diabetes will reverse itself, as it did for Greta and Thurston at BCR.  The keys are paying attention to your cat's health and staying in touch with your vet if you think something is wrong.

CLICK HERE to read more about feline diabetes.