Diabetes is the result of the dysfunction of the organs called the “pancreas”.

2 types of diabetes-

• Diabetes mellitus (Type 1 & type 2)
• Diabetes insipidus (Not discussed in this article)

People mostly think about diabetes as a result of being overweight. The pancreas has certain types of cells called beta cells.  The beta cells produce and release a hormone called insulin. In the case of type 1 diabetes – “No beta cells, no insulin”. This is a very complicated situation.

Cats on the other hand like to get type 2 diabetes.

In type 2 diabetes-

• the beta cells are there and not destroyed
• But they’re not producing the insulin that the body needs.
• They’re sleeping (in many cases they’re sleeping because they’re so tired from producing so much insulin.)

By judging this, we can say that being overweight can prompt you to type 2 diabetes.

What Is Insulin? How Does It Work?

• Insulin is a hormone that is released in response to elevated blood glucose.
• After eating the body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose
• Glucose enters the bloodstream.
• The pancreas detects the rise in blood glucose and releases insulin
• Insulin absorbs glucose from the blood.
• Cells use glucose for energy or store it for further use.
• Glucose is necessary for cells to perform

So, without insulin, the blood glucose levels will just go up and up and up until the kidney like to damage.So as the kidney is filtering the blood it adds all that extra blood glucose into the urine to try to lower the levels of it.

Clinical Signs in Our Cats

Peeing More

At that point, we start seeing clinical signs in our cats. In cats, the classic clinical signs of diabetes are increased urination and increased thirst. They’re peeing more. They’re trying to lower that blood glucose level and they’re drinking more because they’re peeing more. Many cats get so thirsty that they just start drinking in a lot of really weird places like the toilet bowl.

Weight Loss

Weight loss is another classic sign of diabetes. Essentially since the cells are not able to use any of the glucose that your cat is eating, they’re resorting to getting their energy by burning fat. Diabetes will be diagnosed by your veterinarian by running some blood checks. If the blood glucose is really high it’s probably diabetes.

Increased Urination

Increased urination can also be a sign associated with problems with a lot of other organs. Your veterinarian might want to check in on your cat’s other organs to see how they’re doing like the thyroid and the kidney among others. So, your veterinarian might choose to run some other blood work and maybe a urinalysis to check in and see how everyone’s doing. Your vet might also want to check fructose amylose. So this is another sugar in the body that can be a little bit more specific for diabetes than glucose depending on if your cat is stressed or not.

Diabetes is treated by administering insulin

If the beta cells don’t want to make it fine, we’ll just give it ourselves. There are a lot of different types of insulin. Your veterinarian will help you choose what kind of insulin is best for you and your cat. Most insulin regimes require two injections a day, twelve hours apart, one in the morning and one in the evening. If you’re nervous about giving the injections that’s understandable. But once you get down into the routine it’s not that bad and most cats tolerate it pretty well. To give an insulin injection first you get your syringe. Just an FYI there are two sizes of syringes so when you get your insulin make sure you get the matching syringe size for that insulin. Next, you want to get your insulin from the fridge and roll it gently in the palms of your hands until it’s thoroughly mixed. Then you want to clean the top of the vial with alcohol. Next, you want to drop your required dose of insulin and then you administer it under the skin of your cat.

All About Giving Insulin

Insulin injection should be given at the time of breakfast, lunch, dinner, or any time of meal. Try to give the insulin and food at the same time each day. get the pancreas back on a schedule. Never give your cat too much insulin. If you can’t remember whether you give your cat an insulin injection or not in the morning, do not give her another one just to be sure. Overdoing the insulin can lead to really low blood sugar which is very dangerous for your cat. It can cause your cat to be depressed and even cause death.

Diet

Give your diabetic cat a high protein low carb diet. Consult with a vet for a proper diet for your diabetic cat.

It is important to monitor your cat’s diabetes regularly. There are plenty of blood glucose monitoring meters available in the market. They’re a little bit expensive but can give the correct result. For anyone not keen on pricking their pet, there are human glucose sensors that can be installed on your cat and then you can read them with a device like this. Now it’s up to your vet whether they want you to do what’s called a blood glucose curve at home. Some vets might prefer to do it at the clinic. But if they do want you to do it at home, it’s relatively simple. All you do is take a blood glucose reading every hour for 12 hours and then you give the numbers to the vet and they’ll put them in a graph and with that graph they can monitor trends and blood glucose and it can be beneficial in determining whether they need to decrease or increase your cat’s dose of insulin. Even if your vet prefers to do blood glucose curves in the hospital, I still recommend getting a meter or two to check your cat’s blood sugar at home. This is good for spot-checking. If you find high or low sugar levels by measuring, you should contact your veterinarian as early as possible.

Conclusion

The cool thing about type 2 diabetes cats is that the beta cells can awake from their slumber and start producing insulin again. This is called diabetic remission.

Regular checking and a good diet are essential for a diabetes cat. If a cat owner finds any sign of diabetes his cat must go to the vet for regular examination and treatment.