Caring For Your Diabetic Cat

It all started about two years ago, just after Christmas. We had put out three cats - Pansy, Bonnie and Clyde into a cattery for a few days while we went off for Christmas, not something we do often, but it was a bit of a treat. Upon our return, we noticed Bonnie, who was then twelve years-old was looking a bit thin, but we put it down to her pining for us, and not having her usual eating opportunites. However, over the next few days, Bonnie's weight plummeted, and she was looking very sorry for herself. When she started wetting herself, a thing no self-respecting cat would ever knowingly do, we immediately took her to the vet. After a day of tests, the results came back, and we found out she was diabetic. The prognosis was not good. The vet was talking to us as if there really wasn't much hope, and that her future life would revolve around food at a particular time and insulin a certain number of hours after. Now, anyone with more than one cat will tell you that it is impossible to feed one cat, and not another, particularly as our brood have always been used to free access to food. The vet's description of how meticulous one has to be when home administering insulin was also quite frightening - too small a dose and the cat would suffer with low blood sugar, and too much, the complete opposite. Added to this Bonnie is a small cat anyway, so the error either way could easily be fatal. Doom and gloom - Bonnie's future was not looking good, although she had sterted to eat again, and was putting on a little weight. The vet decided to try Glibinese tablets, initally only half a tablet a day. After a few weeks, Bonnie went to the vet for some more blood tests - blood sugar still high - suggested we try half a tablet twice a day. Bonnie was very stressed from having blood taken. So, we tried her on two half tablets for a couple of days, but she didn't seem herself at all, so we went back to one half, and all is well. She drinks water like it's going out of fashion, and eats more food than the dog does, but there has been no smell of ketones (a tell-tale sign of high blood sugar - smells a bit like nail polish remover), and she seems to be thriving. We go down to the vet every three months for a check-up, and she gets her supply of Glibinese, and all is well. To summarise from our experiences: feline diabetes need not be a death sentence; some cats can have their blood sugar controlled well with Glibinese rather than insulin; try to stick to the same time of day, every day, for giving medication; ensure that a large bowl of water is available at all times, and a litter tray; food should be freely available for the cat; give your cat even more love and affection than you used to; check for ketones on the cat's breath - if you do smell them, it's time to call the vet! I hope you've found my experience of feline diabetes useful - Bonnie is as well now as she was previously, and is happily enjoying the golden years of her life aged fourteen! Good luck with your cats!