Diabetes in Cats

Its scary when you first know your cat has diabetis but once you start understanding the disease and get more used to the monitoring it becomes easier for you and your kitty.
Informing yourself of the disease is crucial, its not the same as human diabetis and its a complex disease that you need to inform yourself about.Don't feel overwhelemed by the amount of information. Get all the info printed and make it a point to read them every night until you basically have learned the info by heart.
First of all, Feline diabetes is extremely difficult to regulate. Feline metabolism is simply not designed to be diabetes friendly. By "regulate," we mean finding the correct insulin dosage for steady, healthy blood sugar levels.Feline metabolism is built specifically for short, fast bursts of power and speed, not long chases, unlike dogs. It can take a very long time to find the right dose of insulin, and the "right" dose can change on you with little or no notice. Stress, even things that don't appear to us to be stressful, can set off sugar spikes in cats.
Thus, you MUST monitor your cat at all times. At any sign of trouble,at least call your vet. You'll get better over time at recognizing what needs immediate attention.
Signs of trouble (over-insulin) include:
Balance loss, unsteady walking (they'll act drunk ...)
Head shaking
Sudden craziness - this is different from the regular feline nightly run around and be active craziness. Sometimes, the cat might let out a horrible witchy yowl at top voice, spin madly around chasing its own tail 4-5 times, jump in the air, fall on the sides, pant and ultimately even lose consciousness.
So, in such instances have a light corn syrup handy. If you over-insulin (which is all too easily done) you will need to get come easy sugar into your cat FAST.
The insulin is given subcutaneaously, that is, directly under the top layer of skin, and NOT into the blood. What you'll do is lift your cat's skin somewhere around the scruff or near that area, just as you would do to check hydration (something you'll want to do daily, by the way ...) You'll then have a little tent of skin lifted off from the body. You'll insert the the needle along the long line of the tent (think of a long pole supporting the tent like a roof line) rather than from side to side of the tent. Inject and you're done. You'll get to where you can do it easily.
Never give another shot if you think you missed the shot (sometimes you can make a mistake and give the shot to the fur.. which isn't helpful at all!) but its always best for your kitty to skip a dose than have a double shot.
Eating is crucial - and it is equally crucial that your cat eats something immediately before or after the insulin shot (just like human diabetics). This can be difficult, as cats often don't eat when they don't feel well, so start finding all the creative treats you can find that will entice your cat.You can probably try home-made (no salt or spices) chicken broth, which gels when cold; baby food (all meat, NO spices, particularly onion powder, which is poisonous to cats); wet food (from the vet, particularly made for kidney problems); TUNA (the special favorite.) Experiment, but don't go overboard, and remember that however 'underboard' is more dangerous.
As the diabetes progresses, be on the watch for other complications; Joint problems , need for heat, blindness. You'll need to make environmental changes to accommodate such things as they develop. Some cats can come down with renal failure as a secondary condition to the diabetes. These are all treatable, but it will add to the adjustments you and your cat will need to make.
Find out where your nearest emergency animal hospital/clinic is NOW before you need that information. Because you will need it.Unless you are extremely blessed, there will be at least once or twice that you will need to rush your cat for immediate care, because he goes into diabetic coma (the warnings I mentioned above.) Keep the number someplace where you can find it at a moment's notice.
Towels are your friend. They can be used to wrap a cat who struggles when given shots; they can be used to put under a cat who is retching to catch the vomit (towels, unlike rugs and floors, are easily thrown into a washing machine!);they can make emergency beds as the cat's ability to navigate the environment changes. They can be used with plastic to catch extraneous urine around the litterbox (again - washable!).
Periodically ,talk to your vet about cat's diet. He may already be on lower-protein food. If not, it may be time to introduce it. Kidney problems necessitate lower protein foods than normal
This can be a harsh statement, but to be realistic, Diabetes in cats is fatal -- you may have weeks or years, depending on how well your cat's blood levels regulate. Now is the time for the two of you to come to an agreement about what constitutes a quality-of-life threshold. Only you and your cat can decide when that is for the two of you. But it is a conversation you should start, now,while you can still enjoy yourselves together as you have it.
Anand Srinivasan is the author of http://XooXonline.info a website of varied themes and topics for the internet surfer who wants to surf but does not know what to!
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