Many of them might think about how cats could have diabetes. But yes, it’s true that cats too get affected by diabetes disease. Cats are like human beings, their lifestyle, digestion process and some metabolism processes are similar to humans. The amount of insulin hormone decreases in the cat causing the sugar flow in the blood. Is your cat normal? Here are some symptoms to find whether your cat is diabetic or not.
Symptoms
- Frequent urination and urine are sticky (Polyuria): The cat owner should frequently check the urine output of his/her cat.
- Increase hunger (Hyperphagia): If a cat is insisting on food all the time, then he should be taken to the vet.
- Increase thirst (Polydipsia): If a cat is drinking more amount of water than usual and also drinking from an unusual place, it may indicate a sign of feline diabetes.
- Increased/decreased body weight (Obesity/malnutrition): Diabetes affects the weight of a cat. An obese cat has more chances of producing diabetes so maintaining weight is also an important factor.
- Plantigrade stance: In this case, the diabetic catwalks on heels instead of his/her toes.
What care should be taken?
- Diet: Cats are carnivores in nature. So, their diet must include more proteins and fewer carbohydrates in it. Dry and wet foods both are suitable for cats. But, dry food made up of starch is not good for the cat’s health, so one should give low-carb food. There are two meals, one is high in fiber and carbohydrates and the other is high in protein and low-carbohydrate. The vet will prescribe the type of diet according to the cat’s health.
- Treatment: Diabetes is of two types: Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, insulin production decreases leading to an increase in glucose levels in the blood. In type 2 diabetes, the glucose levels are high because the cells of the body do not respond to insulin. Mostly, cats suffer from type 2 diabetes. There is no total cure for diabetes, so prevention is better than cure.
- Diagnosis: One should consult a vet immediately after observing the symptoms and not treat himself at home. Because sometimes, the signs and symptoms would be the same, but the case would be different from diabetes. So blood sugar levels, urine concentration, etc should be checked before any treatment. Mostly diabetic cats need insulin injections every 12 hours which training will be provided to you by the Vet.
- Exercise practices: One should consult the help of a vet to include certain exercise practices in a diabetic cat schedule and not included by one wish. But can include basic exercises like playing with the cat with a ball and making them move around so that it will help in minimizing obesity and will help in converting glucose into insulin.
Although, treating a diabetic cat may cost you some penny for its treatment and medications, keeping it untreated will lead to many serious problems later on. The cat may go through glucosuria (urine contains glucose content), ketoacidosis (it may include hyperglycemia), ketonemia (metabolic acidosis), and positive or negative ketonuria (presence of ketone bodies in urine). Untreated conditions may lead to a short life span or can change the quality of life. Treating a diabetic cat may take a month or sometimes more but care should be taken by consistently monitoring and check-ups.
Keeping a diabetic cat happy will help in their recovery!
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday. It will always be interesting to read articles from other authors and use a little something from their sites.