How to take care of Cats with Diabetes

A cat with diabetes is a cat that can not maintain the required level of sugar in the blood due to a lack of response to insulin hormone production. The cat can be cared for and cured after being diagnosed with diabetes if the pancreas isn’t working properly. This results in an increase in the level of sugar in the blood.
This isn’t just a problem for humans; other animals can also be affected by diabetes.

Diabetes in Cats

Here we are talking about the universal pet “CATS,” the most common pet animal around the globe. Almost 0.3-3% of cats will be affected by diabetes in their life. Cats can catch diabetes due to many reasons,

Signs and symptoms for cat with diabetes

Cats are not very good at showing their pain to humans. And diabetes can be a silent killer for them, so it’s better to look for signs and symptoms in your cat so you can get a better idea of how your cat is doing. here are the main symptoms of a cat with diabetes,

Sudden change in the weight of the cat:

The first major thing a cat owner will notice in their favorite pet if it is diagnosed with diabetes is a sudden change in the weight of the cat. Even with a good and healthy diet, a cat that has diabetes will start losing fat because of less energy in the body, the body will look for other sources of energy, it will start to burn extra or all fat of the body and as a result, making a cat skinny in no time.

Accessive Hunger:

When a cat is affected by diabetes, it needs more energy to carry on all the processes in the body. Although all cats love extra food, a cat with diabetes will eat anything, no matter how it tastes, as it needs energy in the body.

Increased waste production:

As a cat eats more, it needs to empty itself more. You can have an eye on your cat’s litter box, so you know how often and how much your cat is urinating at a time, although this method isn’t very effective in homes with more than one cat.

Accessive thrust:

As a cat urinate more, it needs more water to drink. So having an eye on your cat’s water bowl is again a good idea if you have only one cat, but it can be tough for a multi-cat house. A veterinarian can easily diagnose diabetes in your cat with some tests. One test isn’t enough for your cat as the cats can temporarily raise their blood sugar levels under stress. But other tests can be done on the cats’ blood that can give the results of blood sugar concentration over the last few weeks. Other tests can be done to diagnose different diseases that are maybe causing the same symptoms as diabetes, for example, urinary tract infection or chronic kidney disease.

Treatment of Diabetes in cats:

So now that we know about the disease, its symptoms, and its diagnosis, let’s head to the main point, “Treatment of diabetes.” Although there is no complete cure for diabetes, it can be controlled to a normal level, and here’s how,

Insulin Injections:

Insulin injections can be life-saving for diabetics cats, most importantly cats with very dangerous levels of blood glucose. Unlike us humans, oral medication doesn’t work out that much on cats with diabetes. Insulin injections are injected into a cat twice a day, although it can vary a bit and won’t affect the cat’s health.
Injection after every 12 hours may seem worrying, but these are not that difficult to operate with. That’s why cat owners are taught to inject their cats themselves at home, and due to the small needles of the injections, cats don’t really have much problem working with them.

Good Diet:

A good and balanced diet can cure anything. A diet with not many carbohydrates is noticed to control sugar levels in cats with diabetes. A diet with the prescription of a veterinarian can be very effective for controlling weight loss in diabetic cats for better sugar level regulation. There is no fixed timing for food to be served to diabetic cats

Although it is recommended that cats be given food at the time of insulin injection, there are no scientific details on how it helps a diabetic cat control sugar levels. Low carbohydrate food availability 24/7 is also a good option for cats who like to roam around and eat all day, especially if a long-lasting insulin injection is used.