Anyone have experience with feline diabetes?

I'm taking one of our cats to the vet in a few days because I suspect she might be diabetic. She's always been underweight (neurotic), so I can't really say if she's lost weight, but lately I've caught her at the water bowl more times than seems normal for a cat (since they drink so little--nothing like a dog, you know?), she's been urinating a great deal (I think--hard to tell, as we have another cat too), and she's been DEMANDING food lately, both canned food and chicken, which is entirely unlike her--she hardly ever has an appetite.

Does that sound like feline diabetes? And for those who have had cats with diabetes, how is it handled? Thanks! :hi:

is draw some blood and run some tests to determine if it's diabetes or something else.

Good luck to you and kitteh! :hi:

I thought of it (being hypothyroid myself) but Mr. MG took her to that vet visit, so I don't recall which tests they ran. I'll ask if they checked her for that.

Thanks for the good wishes. We'll get to the bottom of this! :hi:

can be a pain but she managed.

This cat is a neurotic mess and will NOT be "captured" for a daily administration of ANYthing (shot, pill, ointment, what have you). That'd be a toughie. x(

Used Humulin.
Got the finest needle they make.
You just kind of pinch up the back of the neck and pop it in there.
They don't have much feeling there because that's how their mommas carry them around as kittens.
Ace didn't mind it at all.

The deal is, the cat can't have anything to eat until he gets the shot.
Ace soon learned that.
If I overslept or was just late in giving the shot, he'd come in and complain.
"Hey, Man? C'mon, I'm HUNGRY!"

It'll be easier than you think.
Good luck.

The way I figure, if she does have diabetes, I'll just have to make the shots happen somehow, despite her pisspot nature. :)

I guess the big change will be taking the food away; right now we leave the dry out all the time for both of them, as well as whatever canned food got dished out at dinnertime, till it's gone. She's already quite adept at bitchin' if the food dishes are empty--a very irate "MOWWWW!" that I swear is kitteh for "NOW!" and she does a protest poop if we don't hop to it. I sure hope she won't need insulin; she doesn't handle lifestyle changes well.
:rofl:

In fact it becomes second nature. It is very very important that they are given at regular times. My trick was first thing in the morning 5:30am and first thing when I got home from work, also at 5:30. If you ever think you forgot the cat should wait for the next dose, to much is worse than none. I would put his food down then as he was eating just pinch the back of his neck and give him the shot took about 1 second once I got good at it.

The feeding is a pain, start reading up on cat nutrition, high protein low carbs is a must. The dry food is usually the worst thing for the cats but there are several good brands out now that are fine for a diabetic cat. Evo makes one that I gave mine worked very well and after several months I noticed the other cats coats looked better. If you can get her to slowly loose weight she might reverse on her own.

Sometimes cats will get better, mine would go off his insulin once a year sometimes for months. Get used to watching the cat carefully and you will start to know the signs of sickness by her looks, water intake, frankly after 3 years I could just tell how he was feeling.

Good luck hope she feels better soon. You can leave a little food down, kind of a snack sized bit of good quality dry will keep your sanity.

:rofl:

Honestly, she is so friggin' neurotic that she won't even let you pick her up to pet her. If you reach for her, she assumes she's done something wrong and heads for the hills.

The good news is that she loves her protein--canned organic food (especially fish and shrimp) and chicken that I cook especially for her. She doesn't eat much of the dry food we leave out at all.

She's seriously UNDERweight, which gives me pause, but from what I can tell not all diabetics are overweight. So confused, though--guess I'll find out when she goes to the vet.

Thanks for the advice, though--I really appreciate it! :hi:

I gave my cat insulin for years. He was also very underweight when I brought him to the vet and was drinking like crazy. Fortunately, the shots didn't seem to hurt at all. The skin on their back is so loose that you can make a little tepee and give the shot in a matter of seconds.

The first few (and by "few" I mean hundred) times I ended up giving the shot wherever I caught him. We got into a flow of him snacking on a piece of ham or turkey while I gave the shot-- healthy low-carb treat.

My cat did really well on diabetic food. I was nervous about the change, but he did fine. I was able to leave the food out all day for him like I always had.

Truthfully, the whole thing was not the big deal I thought it would be when I took him to that first vet appointment. :)

I do hope that her twice-daily paper plate of chicken will keep her in place long enough for her shots, if that's what she ends up needing. :hi:

That was at age 15, and he lived a good three years beyond that. It took a little while to get the vetsulin dosage dialed in, but once that was done, all was well.

Best guess according to her teeth, as she was a stray, that is. Good to know she could continue on for several more years. :hi:

He lived with it for years, passed away from unrelated causes a few years ago at the age of 17. It was pretty manageable - I gave him 2 insulin shots a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. He barely seemed to notice them. The insulin was human insulin, Humulin-N as I recall, purchased from the drugstore with the vet's prescription. It wasn't all that expensive because the doses were so tiny.

We don't have a whole lot to spare (the vet "strongly recommends" our other cat has her teeth cleaned again, but we can't swing the $400-$700 price tag right now) and I was wondering how much insulin ran for cats. :hi:

I just lost a kitty to renal failure. He drank A LOT, and he peed A LOT. My first cat had hyperthyroidism. She had all the symptoms you are describing. I hope it's the latter. Hyperthyroidism is curable, granted the treatment is hugely expensive.

I hope it's the latter as well. Thyroid I know about (I'm hypo); that I can handle. :(

it is very treatable with insulin injections & a certain amt of blood glucose testing. The needles are very fine and the cats learn that the injections make them feel better. My cat used to come up to me when it was shot time and ask for his shot.

felinediabetes.com is THE BEST site for FD!

If she's always been skinny though that doesn't fit the profile - usually it's the chunky cats addicted to high-carb dry food that develop a type 2 diabetes.

(BTW, for other readers who may be interested - 20% of FD cats can reverse their diabetes by switching the cat to a high protein, low carb (mostly meat) diet. Cats, unlike most other animals on the planet, are obligate carnivores which means they have evolved needing very little or no carbs, so that is why they are more prone to diet-caused diabetes.)

Wow! :wow:

You're right; I am second-guessing the diabetes thing because she's very skinny and eats mostly protein (canned organic and chicken I make for her). Then again, not all diabetics are fat...Ugh, I don't know. I think I'll ask for a thyroid test as well.

are signs of both. The DEMAND for food is a biggie for hyperthyroid. My cat was diagnosed with this a few months ago. If this is what it is, it is curable. Curable! (At least I hope so, that is what they tell me.) It is easily diagnosed with blood tests.

When he first got the diagnosis, I put him on Tapazole for a month to determine if that we the only health problem he had since it can mask other problems like kidney failure. After a month on meds (a horrible experience for me and the cat), blood tests determined that he had no other problems, so I chose to get the radioactive iodine treatment. He had that last month and is due for more blood tests next week to make sure the thyroid is now functioning properly. This has not been cheap, but it was worth it to me. Each blood test cost me almost $200. The meds were $1 a pill, 2 pills a day for a month. The iodine-131 treatment was $1,250. That sounds like so much money, and it is, but when I calculated how much the meds (for the rest of his life) plus the blood tests to make sure the meds were at the proper level every 3 months, it was not going to be long before I hit the "cure" costs.

Maybe it is neither problem. Either one is managable. Actually a friend of mine has an old cat that is diabetic and is not being treated. The diagnosis was five years ago and the cat is still alive and going ok for a 20 year old cat. I am not suggesting that you would not treat it, but know that there are options.

I'm hypo, myself, and so pretty well versed in All Things Thyroid. If she's hyper, I can help with that, no problem. Thanks, Curmudgeoness! :hi:

It is amazing how many of us worry about everyone's fur babies.

DUers rawk when it comes to our fuzzy friends. :hug:

I do hope Clover will pleasantly surprise me, if it comes to that, but right now she's a nervous wreck in general. I dread the thought of having to give her shots... x(

My ex's cat needed an insulin shot 8 am and 8 pm. Plus, veterinary prescribed cat food that cost $45 a bag.

The shots are really easy, but kind of a hassle.

And to stop peeing all over the dining room; I'm spending a fortune in doggie wee wee pads just to save my floors (it's working well, thank goodness)--Nature's Miracle is the best brand, I've found, but dang do they cost $$$.

She SEEMS all right except for the urination, drinking, and demanding food--she's been with us for about a dozen years, so I can tell that she's been acting differently the past couple of months.

3 years. He gets Lantus every 12 hours. (twice a day) Easy to give him shots, just give him some food, grab skin and shoot. We do tend to call it shooting the cat. He doesn't really notice beyond that we pet him right after to be sure there is no wet spot. A wet spot would mean sloppy shooting on our part. My SO tends to give it on the back of his neck so I use alternative sides. Our vet wants us to not use the same area all the time.

I had another cat that had FD for 6 months. He also got a shot twice a day then one day he went loopy a half hour after. It is much harder to get Karo syrup into a cat than meds. We were both a mess. Seems he suddenly was no longer diabetic. It happens though is rare. He was on PZI. I would go with the Lantus if given a choice because it is cheaper in the long run. Some people also think cats on it have a higher chance of recovering and no longer being diabetic. Unfortunately years later this cat had CRF that eventually killed him. I'll take diabetes over kidney disease any day though both are treatable and with good care your cat can have a good happy life for years.

Here is a really good site for information that helped me a lot. http://www.felinediabetes.com/ Oh and my cats eat EVO cat & kitten food instead of Hill's DM or other diabetic foods. It is high protein, low carb and fit in with my vet's guidelines for food. Much easier for me since all the cats can eat it.


Good luck, hope it is something easy to treat and your kitty has a long happy life with you.

I was pre-diabetic (high insulin levels) for a while, but once I got my diet under control and dropped some weight, it went back in the normal range and I didn't need to be so vigilant.

Thanks for the good wishes and the good advice! :hi:

So much knowledge, experience, and good advice on every topic under the sun! Thanks EVERYBODY; I appreciate the support and the good wishes for crazy Clover kitteh. We'll take good care of her. :hi:

symptoms...weight loss, increased drinking and urinating. Acting drunk. My Tia (rip) just started walking sideways, tripping, falling down like she was drunk. She was diagnosed and lived for about a year and a half after that. We treated her with insulin, and finally got it under control for the most part through diet. I used the same testing strips that you would use for a person. My Mom's cat, Sam (rip) made it about 6 years doing the same thing.

One very useful place was the feline diabetes message board. Tons of very useful info. http://www.felinediabetes.com/