What is Feline Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disorder affecting the processing of glucose (blood sugar) in the body. The digestive system breaks food down into various components, including glucose, that enter the bloodstream. Glucose is absorbed by cells to use for energy. Insulin is the hormone that signals the cells to take up the glucose -- without it, the glucose stays in the blood.

Diabetes is fairly easy to diagnose based on blood and urine sugar levels, but a full blood panel evaluation, including thyroid levels and urine culture, should be done initially to rule out concurrent disease.

There is newer blood test called serum fructosamine. This test can measure the degree of glycemic control over the preceding few weeks of a diabetic's life once on treatment and it can also be used to differentiate stress hyperglycemia from true diabetes in ill cats. Diabetic cats who are stable on treatment can often have the serum fructosamine test done instead of a 12-24 hour blood glucose curve for monitoring purposes.

The diabetic is hungry, eats more, but loses weight anyway. Some organs will attempt to correct the problem -- the kidneys, for instance, try to get rid of the excess glucose in the blood and go into high gear. They use a lot of water for this, so the diabetic feels thirsty all the time and drinks a lot of water (polydipsia or PD), and urinates huge amounts of dilute urine with sugar in it (polyurination or PU. You will probably hear this renal (kidney) affect called "spilling glucose." Because of this extra effort, the kidneys are usually among the first organs to show damage from diabetes but this damage usually isn't evident until quite advanced. Eye and nerve damage tend to be noticed first. If there is damage at the time of diagnosis, the diabetes has been there for quite a while and has gotten severe.

Diabetes, although relatively simple in concept, turns out to be extremely complex and variable in practice. Additionally, diabetes in cats is not a deeply studied subject. Because of this, some veterinarians still resist treating feline diabetes or don't have appropriate information. Sadly, there are still an ingorant few who don't recommend that treatment be attempted. Fortunately, most veterinarians are open to education, even by cat caretakers. Keep in mind that veterinarian guidelines for treating feline diabetes are based on average results achieved with large numbers of animals. It's rare for an individual animal to fit nicely into that picture, so either you or the vet has to learn a lot about diabetes in your cat so that your pet can be treated effectively and live many more happy years.

The object of diabetes treatment is to control the blood glucose so it stays in (or near) the normal range, as it would be if the pancreas were still producing insulin naturally. For food to be properly utilized, insulin must be available to convert the food into a useable state. The pancreas would naturally regulate blood sugars by slowly releasing insulin, and unfortunately injected insulin doesn't act quite like natural insulin, nor is it practical to just shoot a little in every time the cat eats.

You need to consider additional ways to help control your cat's blood sugar. Diet is the most important part of treatment and some cats can actually be diet-controlled. Although many vets are not aware of it, current research indicates that a high protein, low carbohydrate diet is best for cats. Since cats are obligate carnivores, they don't have the proper enzymes to digest plant-based protein, so avoid any foods that use plants as the primary protein source.

If diet alone does not control the diabetes, your cat will need medication, either insulin or an oral antihyperglycemics (pills). If you opt to try pills, research indicates that it can take up to four months before a cat begins to respond to them. Depending on your cat's overall health at diagnosis, you may not want to wait this long. Also, most cats don't seem to respond to the pills so injected insulin may be the best treatment option. Several types of insulins with different characteristics are available to use, as not all cats react the same way to each type. Humulin N has a very poor history of working correctly on cats and should be avoided. Non-human insulin such as pork or beef PZI is closest to the structure of a cat's own insulin.

If your cat is newly diagnosed with diabetes but is not severely ill, you should consider taking your cat home, learning to do home blood-testing with a simple glucose meter, and get your cat's diabetes under control at home with your vet's guidance. Veterinarians will choose an insulin and an initial insulin dosage based on treatment guidelines. Your vet will tell you if your cat is too sick to go home. If he has complications, your cat will have to stay in the hospital until he gets well enough to treat at home. If you feel that you cannot do glucometer testing, at least test your cat's urine with simple dipsticks.

Diabetes can be permanent or temporary, stable or variable, or even intermittent -- it's called a "honeymoon" when the diabetes disappears briefly.