Feline Diabetes: Get the Facts

Most people know someone with diabetes, either a friend, a family member, or maybe yourself.

What's less commonly known is that cats can have diabetes and if you're not careful the symptoms might sail under your nose. November is feline diabetes month and there's no better time to learn about the disease and what you can do to help your cat avoid it.

What is Feline Diabetes and How Do You Spot It?

Feline diabetes works largely the same as it does in humans. A cat with diabetes can't produce enough insulin -- a substance produced in the pancreas that helps absorb nutrients from food -- which causes him or her to become sick.

"It's like if there were a bunch of groceries in a hallway but no way for them to get in the door of your apartment so you can actually eat them," Dr. Louise Murray, Vice President of the New York ASPCA Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital, told me.

"That's why their blood-sugar gets so high when there's not enough insulin, it's the groceries piling up in the hallway. They're basically starving. They're eating but they're not absorbing anything."

Identifying the disease in people can be tricky enough, but it can be even harder with cats since they can't just tell you that they don't feel well. The symptoms are similar though, so if you know what to look for in a person that can be a good guide with your cat.

"In many cases the cat will be drinking more water, and commensurately urinating more," Dr. Murray said. "They won't always be urinating more often, but the volume of urine will be more."

Another symptom to watch out for is weight loss, and some changes in appearance, including a loss of thickness and luster in fur. The cats won't be absorbing enough nutrients to keep their skin and fur healthy so they'll start to look patchy and flaky.

How to Treat It

While feline diabetes can lead to some serious complications if left untreated for long enough, it's a relatively manageable process to help your cat regulate her blood-sugar. You should always consult your veterinarian before starting any kind of treatment with your cat, but the most common approach will be giving your cat regular insulin shots.

"There's not really very much to buy," Dr. Murray said. "You're going to need insulin and some syringes. Some vets will want you to test your cat's urine for sugar. You can get a special litter box with a pullout drawer that collects urine and use Keto-Diastix [a common glucose testing stick], which you can get at any pharmacy."

While giving cats a bath or clipping their claws can be harrowing, giving them injections isn't quite as hard as it sounds.

Insulin injections don't go into muscle tissue and cats generally have loose skin making it easy to pinch a small section away from the body. Again, make sure to speak with your veterinarian before attempting to give your cat a shot, but don't be surprised if it doesn't leave you with any new scratch marks.

Another bit of good news is that newly-diagnosed feline diabetes can usually be cured in a few weeks or months. "In many cases feline diabetes can be reversed where they don't need insulin anymore and may never again," Dr. Murray said.

"Most cats can get off insulin eventually."

How to Prevent It

There are several kinds of diabetes in humans, but they can broadly be categorized as those who will never be able to produce enough insulin and will need a lifetime of treatment and those whose inadequate insulin is a product of poor diet and obesity, which can be reversed.

Most cases of feline diabetes are the latter, widely thought to be brought on by an improper diet with too many carbohydrates.

"Cats are natures purest carnivores," Dr. Murray said. "Dogs and humans are omnivores with more flexible nutritional needs. Cats are not flexible, they were designed to only eat meat."

"What happens when you give a cat too many carbohydrates is their pancreas literally becomes exhausted. It has to step up and run a marathon to produce enough insulin to process all the carbohydrates. It literally wears out."

Most dry foods are filled with carbohydrates that can increase a cat's chance of developing feline diabetes. Even dry foods labeled "no grains" can still have lots of carbohydrates, just swapping grains for potatoe starch. The best approach is a high-protein diet that's based on wet foods with low carbs.

"Another part of the dry food story is that cats tend to graze when they eat it -- going back and forth to the food bowl all day long," Dr. Murray said. "Cats are not designed to graze. They're carnivores, they're designed to kill, eat, and then not eat for 12 or 24 hours."

A good habit for your cat is to have distinct meal times twice a day.

Many cats won't immediately like a switch from dry to wet food and if you try and force them to eat only wet food, in the beginning you risk them going on a "hunger strike," which could become life-threatening. It's easier to start by leaving a small bit of wet food by their dry food every day, and gradually change the proportions.

In the very worst-case scenario feline diabetes can be fatal, causing cats severe malnourishment and blood toxicity from built up blood-sugar.

These worst-case scenarios should be easily preventable for anyone with a little education about feline diabetes. If your cat has diabetes, a few weeks or months of changed diet and insulin treatments may be all they need. Though make sure to avoid a common pitfall of putting the cat back on his old diet after he is well again, as this can just start the cycle all over.