Practical Tips for Maintaining a Diabetic Cat's Health

There is a lot of good, scientific information out there for owners of diabetic cats, but not much practical, everyday advice.

My own cat is 14 years old and diabetic. She is doing well. She has been diabetic for the last six years.

Here are some rules that I follow in caring for her.

First, keep in contact with your veterinarian. It is easy to believe that you have the problem solved when you give your cat special food and insulin shots. She looks and feels fine. But if you fail to periodically get her insulin level checked, sooner or later her body chemistry will change and she will either not be getting enough insulin or getting too much. The only way to prevent this is to get her checked on a regular basis. This will, in spite of the cost, save you lots of money. If your cat overdoses on a weekend and you have to take her to the emergency vet, it could cost you hundreds of dollars, instead of the $20.00 or $30.00 dollars a checkup will cost.

Second, become a careful observer of your cat's behavior. Each cat will differ. When our kitten is low on insulin, she becomes inactive and it is hard to get her to eat. When she is creeping closer to an overdose, she will not respond to calls (she won't look at us). The next stage in overdose is that she walks around the perimeter of the room, trying to fit into spaces way too small even for a cat. When overdosing, we give her sugar water and this equalizes her until we can get her to the veterinarian. When she is getting too little, well, we try to get her checked before we up her insulin on a guess. After some time dealing with her problem, however, we are very good at predicting what the vet will say. Never, though, assume anything. Get the cat checked. Science is better than lay observation.

Third, work out with your vet how much you should reduce your cat's insulin if she fails to eat. Sooner or later the kitten will get a virus or just not feel well and will turn her nose up to even her favorite foods. We have a fall back plan, a set amount to reduce the dosage to give her body enough, but not too much, even when she isn't eating well.

Fourth, you might notice some changes in your cat after a year or so of needle use. I noticed that her back, near her shoulder blades, where we were injecting her, started to develop sort of a hump. The vet told us that it is scar tissue, built up because of the constant needle pricks. We have varied the places that we inject her now, even though the vet said there was no particular danger from the scar tissue.

Finally, figure out the time of day most convenient to give her a dose and stick to it. We inject our cat twice a day. If we are going to have to move her injection forward or back in time, we plan ahead and move her five or ten minutes a night, gradually getting her to the new time. Remember, too, that moving the clocks forward in the Spring and back in the Fall will mess up you schedule unless you plan for it.

Remember, while this a treatable disease, it is also very dangerous if not treated.

Diabetes has made us far more aware of our cat's behavior; that can be a good thing. As she is getting on in years, it reminds us to pay attention to her and to give her the love that she deserves.