Does anyone know about diabetes in cats?

[Alan]

My sweetie Katie has trouble with her back legs (now). She hasn'talways been this way. She is an American Tabby longhair and is maybe 6. It started with her L.F. paw and now she uses almost her entire rear legs to walk on. Some days are better than others. We have her on Glypizide and for a while she got better now she is the same as before. The doc says her blood sugar level was not outrageous (for a cat who was at the vets office). It was 300 and he says most cats thar are diabetic are somewhere in the 600-700 range. She hurts and I don't know what to do (which is unusual). ANY ideas?

 

[BobN]

Our Simon was diagnosed on February 26, 2000 and we have adopted three other diabetic cats over the years, knowing they were diabetic when we adopted them.

Your vet does not know what he or she is doing - period! They are putting Katie's life at risk.

Virtually all diabetic cats have Insulin Dependent diabetes - also called Type 1.

Very few diabetic cats have Non Insulin Dependent diabetes - also called Type 2.

Oral medications can only be used to treat Type 2 diabetes. You cat very likely needs to start on insulin.

The trouble with Katie's legs is Diabetic Neuropathy and it is the first major complication of an untreated or under treated diabetic cat.

Diabetic Neuropathy occurs when the cat's blood glucose levels have been too high for a long period time.

Diabetes is not a disease that you cure. Diabetics (feline or human) need to be treated for the rest of their lives.

In the past 10 years I have learned that the vast majority of vets have no real clue as to how to properly treat a diabetic cat - it's a sad fact but it is very true.

You need to learn a lot about feline diabetes and learn it very quickly.

The best way is to get this information to you is by telephone. If you will email me at [email protected] and I will send you our telephone numbers.

I've set up that email address just for you to use to send me a message. I will remove it once we hook up via email - I will reply to your message from my main email address. I made the email address so that I don't have to show my actual email address here and leave it open to being harvested by Spammers and also to show you that http://www.sugarcatsimon.com is my domain.

Messages to [email protected] will be forwarded to my email address.

I have made this offer before and people have called me, I would estimate I've talked to about three dozen new Sugarcat Parents over the past 10 years. The feline diabetes community calls a diabetic cat a Sugarcat and since most of us think of our cats as more than just pets, we refer to ourselves as their parents. No, we don't think cats are human, we simply treat them as the unique creatures they are.

Many people do not accept my offer and I always grieve for their cats.

Katie's health depends upon you learning how to properly treat her and I am always ready to help a Sugarcat Parent.

If you are hesitant to take me up on this offer, please reconsider. Your vet simply does not know what they are doing in treating Katie.

I can help you to treat her so that she will become the cat she was before she became diabetic.

We can't cure her diabetes but we can pretty much cure the Diabetic Neuropathy and bring her blood glucose levels under control.

Please email me at [email protected]

Katie is not getting the treatment she needs from your vet and you need to learn the basics so that you give her the treatment she needs.

I make all diabetic treatment decisions for our diabetic cats. We use vets for other purposes but I handle the diabetic issues.

When we were adopted another diabetic cat, back in September of 2006, the owner want a reference. I gave her the name and number of our vet.

She called me back a couple of days later and said the vet had told her "I can't think of anyone who can care for a diabetic cat than Bob."

When I first took a cat to him, it was Simon, because of a scratch on Simon's eye, I was telling him about Simon's diabetes, that we do home BG (Blood Glucose) testing, etc - he was leaning over Simon and he cocked his head towards me and asked "Are you a doctor?" He figured anyone who knew as much about diabetes had to be a doctor. I replied "No, I'm the dad of a diabetic cat who had to learn a lot about diabetes in order to be able to treat the cat properly."

Please email me. I have tested that email address and your message will be handled properly and forwarded to me.

Simon's entire site is not up at the moment. You can read why at the site http://www.sugarcatsimon.com

Please email me so that we can hook up by telephone and I'll give my Diabetes 101 "lecture."

It is not as complicated as you might think.

Email me.

One last try - when we adopted 13 1/2 year old Stranger (along with his litter mate Digby) on April 4, 2001, Stranger had diabetic neuropathy and would go about ten feet than then either fall over or lay down to rest. By getting his BG levels under control and giving him a type of B12 vitamin, his diabetic neuropathy was cleared up within about 3 1/2 months.

EMAIL ME - please, for Katie's sake.

 

[ElaineM]

Ours never had luck with the glipizide, we ended up putting him on insulin.

Have you stopped feeding dry food? A cat even borderline should not be eating food heavy in carbs. Diabetic cats need high protein, LOW fat and LOW carb foods. If you see that she hurts, and has trouble with her back legs, just get her on insulin now to keep her stable and feeling better. Once she's regulated she'll feel like new again.

There are at least two very good diabetic cat lists on YahooGroups, I'd suggest going over and signing up with at least oneof them, all the owners there can answer anyquestion you have. I'd be very concerned about my cat if he was having back leg trouble--that's not a good sign at all.

There's a food comparison guide for the protein, carb and fats online, just google 'Janet & Binky's food lists" and you'll find it.