If your cat has been diagnosed for diabetes, one of the major items that should be on your agenda during discussions with the veterinarian is that of home care. Make sure that you discuss monitoring diet and blood sugar levels at home along with how to store, handle and administer insulin. Another thing that you should understand are the various symptoms of diabetes in cats especially signs of hypoglycemia, low blood sugar. Diabetes in cats can be managed for long periods with dietary management and oral medication without resorting to insulin. It is however, recommended that insulin be used f... [continue reading]

Some of the important aspects of caring for your diabetic cat at home include understanding: * Symptoms of diabetes in cats * Timings and regularity of check ups * Quality, amount and timing of meals * Testing blood sugar levels at home and making a blood glucose curve * Regularity of insulin injections and the manner in which to inject them * Type of insulin to be used and the right syringe to inject it with * The manner in which changes in diet and type of insulin should be made While all the above are important, knowing the peak action of the insulin that has been prescribed is equall... [continue reading]

Diabetes Mellitus is characterized by excessive urination and thirst. It is a metabolic disorder marked by a relative or absolute deficiency of insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas. There is no major variation in the incidence of diabetes in cats and dogs but recent figures reveal that the condition is becoming more common in cats. Roughly 5% to 20% of cases of diabetes in cats are type 1 classifications and the rest experience type 2. Both type 1 and type 2 have similar symptoms and consequences but have different causes. The end cause in both types is the inability of the pancreas to ... [continue reading]

While you may not mind a bi-monthly or quarterly visit to the veterinarian for check ups, the matter does not end there if the symptoms of diabetes in cats and dogs have been confirmed and the pet shows high blood sugar levels. Treating diabetes is a long process that sometimes may last a life time. If your pet has been diagnosed for diabetes, there is a strong possibility that you will be required to take care of the pet at home. Home care of a diabetic pet involves monitoring blood sugar levels and injecting insulin on a daily basis. This necessitates the need for some expertise in checking... [continue reading]

Male cats are more susceptible to diabetes and so are obese cats of either gender. Genetic predisposition is usually suspected to be behind this condition but steroids and other clinical conditions like a pancreas disease and steroidal drugs used for treating other diseases are also known to cause diabetes. An increased incidence has also been observed in neutered cats above six years old. Diabetes is a metabolic disease where insufficient insulin production causes the blood sugar levels to rise. As the disease develops within the cat’s body, sugar is revealed in the urine as well. It is a c... [continue reading]

Diet plays as important a role as drugs and insulin injections in treating diabetes in cats. Actually, diet control and management must be concomitant to medication. It is futile to expect medication as a standalone treatment to provide an effective cure for diabetes. Diabetes is a condition where the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin for regulating glycogen and oxidizing sugar. There is always some amount of glucose in the food that you feed your cat. If the intake is not regulated, there can be no limit to the amount of exogenous insulin that the cat may require to process the glu... [continue reading]

If left untreated, feline diabetes like diabetes in all animals and humans can lead to complications. The complications that arise may be difficult and in some cases, impossible to treat. Continuous and abnormally high levels of blood sugar, hyperglycemia, can adversely affect the nerves, kidneys, retina and bones leading to complicated diseases. * Diabetic neuropathy is the most common complication of chronic hyperglycemia leading to a peculiar symptom of diabetes in cats. The femoral nerve is the most commonly affected. An affected femoral nerve can lead to a plantigrade gait, which is walki... [continue reading]

Diabetes in cats is treatable and normally has a good prognosis. Cats usually respond to lasting insulin and low carbohydrate diets. If diabetes is detected early, treatment is usually successful in preventing nerve damage and in some cases, even remission. However, if left untreated it can lead to organ failure, blindness and even death. Diet In many cases diet alone is able to treat diabetes in cats . A low carbohydrate diet lowers the requirement of insulin in diabetic cats. In cats and dogs, carbohydrates are converted to blood glucose must faster than fats and proteins. A low carbohydrate... [continue reading]

All cells in the body need glucose for energy. There is a typical method by which glucose enters the cells. Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that signals the opening of a ‘door’ so that glucose can enter the cell. Any disruption in this mechanism means that cells do not get the energizing glucose that they need and excess glucose remains in the blood stream. This results in high blood glucose levels. Inflammation of the pancreas is a primary cause of diabetes in cats , dogs and humans as well. Type 1 diabetes is the inability of the pancreas to produce sufficient insulin. Type... [continue reading]

Although diabetes in cats is manageable, it requires constant observation of symptoms and close monitoring of blood sugar levels. The amount, quality and timing of meals should be decided based on the type of insulin that you are injecting. The diet should be regulated based on the frequency with which the insulin is administered. The difference lies in the fact that some types of insulin are slow acting and others have a pronounced peak action. Switching the type of insulin requires a compensatory change in diet. Cats and dogs are usually treated with animal based insulin (beef based insulin ... [continue reading]