Personal Experience with Cat Diabetes by a Feline Veterinarian

After treating diabetic cats for over 20 years in my feline veterinary practice, I, for the first time, diagnosed diabetes in my own cat recently. In this article, I will include my first-hand experience living with a diabetic cat as well as my professional experience as a feline vet.

Even though I didn't see any of the hallmark symptoms in my own cat, it was probably because I have multiple cats and work long, crazy hours, and he was in the very early stages when he was diagnosed. I want to tell you, however, about the most frequent symptoms of feline diabetes because they are usually easy to recognize and it's important to catch them early and begin treatment early.

(3) An increased appetite in the beginning which may decrease often time if not diagnosed and treated

(6) If a cat is diabetic too long without diagnosis and treatment, you will begin to see a change in the back legs as he walks. Instead of walking up on his "toes" as cats do, his hocks will become lower to the ground and the cat will almost walk flat-footed.

This is due to a condition called diabetic neuropathy and indicates the disease has been present for quite some time. The good news is that it can be reversed if treatment is successful and the kitty becomes stable. It takes time, but the cat can once again walk fairly normally.

Before I reassure you about how easy it can be for ANYONE to treat their diabetic cat, I have a short video for you that one of my clients shared that will show you how healthy a diabetic cat can be with good care.

Overcoming Your Fears of Treating Cat Diabetes

If your cat has just been diagnosed with cat diabetes and you're feeling frightened and overwhelmed, I want to reassure you. I want you to remember and believe the following:

(1) Yes, you CAN inject your cat with a needle to give insulin. The needle is very fine - your cat won't even feel it, especially if he is eating or sleeping when you do it.

(2) Yes, your cat CAN tolerate the insulin needle easily even if he/she is not typically a physically affectionate, easily approachable cat.

(3) Injecting insulin into a cat is easier than giving medication by mouth to a cat if you've ever done that.

(5) There are relatively easy solutions to all your objections or fears about treating your diabetic cat.

Watch this short video to see how easy it is to inject your cat with insulin.

I learned this when I was a veterinary student at the University of Pennsylvania and my own cat died of Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. I remember sobbing to the pathologist, “How could this happen to me and to my cat?” His reply was, “When you have as many cats as you have, one of them is bound to have feline cardiomyopathy ....or kidney disease or feline hyperthyroidism or cat diabetes .....and on and on.

However, the one condition that never affected any of my cats all those years was cat diabetes. Even though I have been treating feline diabetics for over 20 years as a feline veterinarian, it wasn’t until about a year ago that I discovered, for the first time, I had a diabetic feline of my own.

The cats I currently have the privilege to live with include 3 brothers, ages 14, all of whom were due for cat dental cleanings few months ago. I needed current blood work on them before sedating them for their cleanings. I had not observed that any of my kitties were showing any feline diabetes symptoms. Of course, when you live with multiple cats, it's not always possible to know if one is drinking or urinating excessively, two of the hallmark signs of diabetes in cats.

I was a little nervous while waiting on the lab results because one of the three cats was actually quite overweight. Since all of the cats I have treated over the years for cat diabetes have been overweight, I was a bit concerned what his blood results would show.

The day after obtaining their blood samples, I watched the fax machine with a bit of anxiety, waiting for the results. What a surprise! The overweight cat had perfect blood results as did his brother, Bobby. However, the cat that looked the healthiest of all, Calvin, had a glucose level of 476! He had cat diabetes.

I did both. I did another blood glucose test on Calvin and a urinalysis. The results were clear. He was definitely a diabetic feline.

At first, I felt very sad and a little scared even though I had helped hundreds of cats with feline diabetes before. But this was my own cat and it felt different. I was nervous, just as you may be. But I mustered up my optimism and courage and our cat diabetes journey began.

Feline Diabetes Treatment

All the proper testing had been completed to see if my cat, Calvin, was a diabetic feline. I now knew for certain that he was and that it was time to start treatment for cat diabetes.

It was time to follow my own advice that I had given for so many years to my clients who lived with a diabetic feline. The main considerations in treating cat diabetes are selection of the best type of pet insulin, finding a feline diabetic diet your cat will like, and learning to test the glucose levels of your cat at home.

If that sounds scary, just watch the following video to see a demonstration of the home testing procedure. It's easy!

Your veterinarian or vet technician will be able to help you learn to test your kitty. Home testing is SO important for achieving the best glycemic control of your diabetic cat.

Insulin is necessary for treating cat diabetes because it is critical for regulating the blood glucose of a cat. Cats without diabetes produce their own insulin in the amounts they need to stay healthy. A diabetic feline, on the other hand, does not produce enough of their own insulin so they must get insulin through injections.

Treating diabetes in cats can be challenging for both veterinarians and cat owners for two reasons:

(1) Cat diabetes can be unpredictable. There is more variation in the way they respond to treatment than there is with other species.

More About Cat Insulin

Over the years, many different types of insulin have been used for cat diabetes. Beef insulin is the closest match to cat insulin, then pork, and the least compatible is human. At times, we have had few choices and just had to use whatever was available. In fact, most of the time, we have had to treat cat diabetes with insulin that was actually best for dogs or people.

At the time Calvin was diagnosed, the pet insulin that I was using most frequently for cats was called ProZinc (protamine zinc recombinant human insulin.) PROZINC was designed specifically for the feline diabetic. I have found it to be quite satisfactory in the treatment of diabetes in cats. There are other types of insulin which you will hear about on the internet and from other veterinarians, but at the moment I am still using primarily PROZINC.

PROZINC is labeled by the manufacturer as being the first protamine zinc insulin specifically for use for cat diabetes that has been approved by the FDA. It is superior than many other insulins for cats due to its ability to continue working longer than most other types of insulin. It maintains a more consistent, stable blood glucose during the day because it is slowly released over time.

An injection of ProZinc cat insulin usually lasts around 12 hours in cats. Cats metabolize insulin more quickly than dogs or people. For this reason, cats almost always require an injection twice daily.

While the manufacturer claims that ProZinc cat insulin is formulated to control cat diabetes regardless of the diet they eat, I have found that the type of feline diabetic diet used is still a very important factor.

Feeding a Diabetic Cat

The diet that you feed your cat is as important as the insulin you give. In fact, the cat food your kitty has eaten may be a large part of the reason he became diabetic to begin with. Now, it's time to change.

The most important thing to remember about any cat diet is that cats are true carnivores. A diet high in carbohydrates is bad for all cats and certainly will make it more difficult to successfully treat a diabetic feline.

Cats lack the enzymes needed to use carbohydrates for their energy requirements. Instead, they utilize proteins and fats for their energy. For example, birds and mice only have three to five percent carbohydrates. However, most dry food contains more than 35% and even as high as 50% carbs.

If a cat is fed a diet high in carbohydrates, the excess carbs end up as fat deposits in the cat’s body. This excess fat leads to greater insulin resistance, leading to the development of feline diabetes.

There are several different companies that manufacture a feline diabetic diet. Royal Canin cat prescription diets include diabetic cat food. Hills prescription cat food is another line of food for cats that includes a feline diabetic diet. Purina also has a feline diabetes diet.

Royal Canin's diabetic cat food comes only in a dry form. Hill's cat food line for cat diabetes has both canned and dry. Purina also has canned and dry versions.

A high protein, moderate fat, low carbohydrate diet will be healthier for all cats and especially beneficial to diabetic cats. But not all such diets are created equally.

If you compare the carbohydrate content of different feline diabetic diets, you will find the following:

The dry versions of these products are lower in carbohydrates than the majority of dry cat food products on the market. However, as you can see, Purina canned DM has the lowest carbohydrate level by far. Much less than the dry versions. However, the Purina diet contains many ingredients that are totally out of line with what a cat in its natural habitat would eat.

On the other hand, if we look at Wellness canned Chicken, we find that it generally has 5 percent or less carbohydrate content. This low amount of carbohydrates, the lack of grains in the diet, a good amount of muscle meat, and the absence of preservatives make it a much more desirable cat food.

If you feed your cat a proper low carb diet, your cat may actually lose his requirement for insulin. If he doesn't completely lose his need for insulin, it is very likely he will need far less insulin to maintain an appropriate blood glucose level.

Bottom line, it is important, especially with cat diabetes, to get your cat to eat far more canned food and far less dry food. Of the dry foods, the feline prescription diabetic diets have lower carb levels then non-prescription commercial diets. However, an appropriate canned diet can have far less carbohydrates than dry food. In addition, a healthier diet with healthier ingredients is, of course, desirable.

Dry cat food, any dry cat food, even the prescription diabetic cat foods, have too many carbohydrates for a diabetic cat. Cats need high protein, low carbohydrate diets!

A diabetic diet for cats MUST be low in carbohydrates. A website that has a food chart showing the carbohydrate content of various brands of cat food is Binky's Page. You can also find additional great information on treating diabetic cats the right way at www.catinfo.org and www.yourdiabeticcat.com

It is very, very important to get a glucose meter and test your cat in your own home. I have not seen an owner or cat yet that could not get used to doing this. That is the only way you will really know your cat’s glucose levels and know how much insulin to give.

This information may sound very new to many, most of you and it will even be unfamiliar to many of your veterinarians. However, I assure you, it works well and makes total sense. I know how successful this feline diabetes treatment can be from my experience with my own cat over the last months as well as many of my clients' cats.

The diabetic cats that do the best follow the "tight regulation" method of treating cat diabetes. My patient, Cole, that was fetching in the video above was treated with the tight regulation method and has eaten only a low carb diet since being diagnosed and has lost his requirement for insulin! I have not gone into more detail about the tight regulation method here because it is covered thoroughly on Dr. Hodgkins website at the above link.

What Other Cat Lovers Have Said About Cat Diabetes

My Diabetic Cat My 13 year old male Ragdoll cat was diagnosed with diabetes three weeks ago. I had noticed the signs – increase in drinking, decrease in appetite, increase ...

Diabetic Cat I'm giving my cat petsulin (new) med. 2 units every 12 hours. She still seems lethargic, and I'm worried because she's dehydrated...badly.

How can ...

Diabetic Cat Uriniated when Picked Up Hello,

My 10 year old cat Dopey was diagnosed with Diabetes in March of this year. He recently had his "OK see you in 6 months" vet appointment and ...

Food for my Diabetic Peppy Peppy 14 years old has now had diabetes for 4 weeks 6weeks after thyroid radiation prior to that his glucose was 5. He is on 5units Protphane. I feed him ...

Lack of appetite from diabetic cat Hi there,

My cat was recently diagnosed as diabetic two weeks ago. He was prescribed insulin 2x daily and we slowly changed his diet to the wet foods ...

Cat Diabetes and Glucose Fluctuations Dr. Neely,

My 15 year old cat was just diagnosed with feline diabetes. I check his glucose level twice a day. It can vary from as low as 57 to as ...

Cat Diabetes - Cat Diet Questions Our 11-year-old male, semi-feral and highly strung male cat has just been diagnosed with feline diabetes. The vet put him on cat insulin injections twice ...

Diabetic Cat Diet Hi there,

I just recently entered my lil' kitty Boo in your photo contest. Boo is a newly diagnosed diabetic cat.

My question is: I am trying to ...

Diabetic cat getting lethargic, bloated, drinking lots My 10 year old female cat was diagnosed with feline diabetes in December (5 months ago). We give her 2 units of insulin twice a day. She is also eating ...

My 2 year old cat was just diagnosed with Diabetes Hi Dr. Neely,

I went to the vet yesterday with my 2 year old male cat Smokey because, in a matter of 2 days, he seemed to get lethargic and was sleeping ...

Pet Glucose Meters vs. Human Glucose Meters Two months ago, my 13-year-old male cat Zulu was diagnosed as having feline diabetes. Zulu is a beautiful long haired manx. Now, after many visits to my ...

Diabetic Cat Hair Loss My cat is 14 years old and was diagnosed last April with diabetes. She receives 6 units of Lantus q 12 hours. Last year she had an IV and her hair never ...

Worming my Diabetic Cat I have 12 cats, one of whom is diabetic. Yesterday I wormed the other cats with 1 Drontal tablet per 6 kg cat.

Is it safe to worm Smudge too? She is ...

Cat Diabetes: A Feline Veterinarian's Personal Experience

Symptoms of Cat Diabetes