Ask the Vet | 3 Symptoms of Diabetes in Cats

Cats with diabetes symptoms tend to fall into three categories; be sure to look for these in order to protect the health of your cat. Diabetes is frequently caused by an unhealthy diet and obesity. Watch out for the following in order to diagnose your feline.

Increased Appetite with Weight Loss
Because your cat isn’t getting the adequate nutrients to sustain itself from a normal amount of food, it eats more to correct the balance. However, as the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin to regulate glucose levels, the cat loses weight.
A change in diet may be enough to control the symptoms in the early stages of feline diabetes, as obesity is the number one cause of diabetes. The diet of cats in the wild is made up of mostly raw meat, so consider replacing processed foods with protein-filled meat products, like ground turkey or chicken. This will decrease the amount of sugar your cat intakes, reducing the amount your cat’s organs need to process.
Other vets recommend a diet of complex carbohydrates and fiber in order to control the cat’s blood sugar levels. Discuss your options with your vet before making any decisions in your pet’s diet. If you notice a sudden drop off in insulin levels, increase other nutrients in your cat’s diet, like Vitamin B, C, E and potassium.

Cat is More Thirsty than Usual
Because your cat is eating more but still losing weight, the organs work hard to correct the imbalance. Your cat’s kidneys will use huge amounts of water in order to rid the excess glucose in the blood no longer regulated by the pancreas. Consequently, your cat will become very thirsty in order to allow his or her organs to work.
If a change in diet wasn’t enough to control the symptoms of diabetes in your cat, insulin treatment can maintain health for years. A combination of blood-glucose levels and insulin dosages will let you regulate feeding schedules accordingly.

Cat Requires Frequent Urination
The large amounts of water being consumed by your cat cause frequent urination. A cat with diabetes urinates frequently and in large volumes of dilute liquid, filled with glucose, due to the excess sugar being processed by the kidneys. This extra effort causes organ damage in later stages of diabetes.
When your usually clean cat begins to have accidents, or you notice him using the litter box more often than usual, you could be seeing signs of early diabetes. Take your feline to your vet for testing before you begin to see more serious problems that result from untreated diabetes like liver disease, circulatory issues, cataracts or heart disease.
Diagnosing and treating diabetes early can prevent your cat from vision problems, weight gain, renal failure and early death. Monitor your cat’s health daily to make sure that you will have your companion for years to come. By Dr Ruan Du Toit Bester

Hope this helps
Till next week
Dr Ruan

Ask the Vet: Royal Veterinary Centre
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