Pets with diabetes

[ZenLefty]

How many of us have a pet with diabetes? What do you do? Do you give him shots or can you control yours with diet?

My cat Elwood was recently diagnosed with diabetes. We actually took him to the vet because of bleeding teeth, and it turned out he had a tumor in his mouth. It was benign, as it turned out, but they told us his blood sugar was a little high. Okay, phenomenally high: 487. Over the last few weeks, he dropped an alarming amount of weight. He was pretty hefty at 24-26 pounds, and now he's down to 16.5. He's now on a high-protien diet (we call it Catkins), gets very few treats, we just started him on 1 unit of insulin twice a day. Giving him shots is easy, he doesn't even feel it and hardly cares that you're grabbing him and poking him with a needle.

We're hoping his energy comes back, and that he stops drinking a ton of water (and peeing a ton of pee moments later). He still catches mice (fake ones) and brings them into the kitchen howling his head off demanding to be rewarded, but now he gets some low sodium lunchmeat in lieu of kitty treats. Apart from that, he's sleeping in places that are more and more hidden, which tells me he's not enjoying life as much as he used to be.

Poor guy. :(

[sleepyhead]

1. Once you get him regulated he will feel much better.

It can take a while, and some adjustments in the insulin dose, but once things even out he can lead a perfectly normal life. I have an 18-year-old cat as a patient that has been diabetic for about 7 years and is doing fine.

Try to check his urine for sugar and ketones as often as possible. If you feel adventurous, you can even learn to check his blood sugar with a human glucose monitor. If you PM me with your snail mail address, I can mail you lots of info (this is a special interest of mine and I have handouts galore). Good luck - he is a handsome boy!

[China_cat]

2. I have 2 cats (brothers) who are both diabetic