What is diabetes in cats?
Diabetes is a serious disease resulting in increased blood glucose levels; The symptoms are increased intake, appetite and the amount of urine emitted.
Females are more affected than males.
The evolution of the disease
The disease evolves in the absence of treatment towards slimming and death.
Diagnosis is based in part on high glycemia (glucose level). However, in the cat, blood glucose rises very easily in stressful situations, the result must be compared to the measurement of urinary glucose, the clinical signs and the dosage of fructosamine (prolonged glucose marker).
How do you treat diabetes in a cat?
Treatment involves injections of insulin; This hormone secreted by the pancreas, is deficient in the diabetic subject, and must be injected once or twice a day. The treatment is mostly lifetime except in some cats or the diet alone can greatly improve blood sugar ... Oral medications are unusable in domestic carnivores.
Insulin therapy is accompanied by necessary precautions:
- Complete haematological, biochemical and urinary assessment
- Institutionalization of insulin therapy: subcutaneous injection carried out at a fixed time in the morning by the owner.
- The strict diet: specific commercial food. Meals are 2 times a day at fixed times.
- Sterilization is mandatory in the female: the ovarian cycle induces large variations in glucose level, and leads to insulin resistance; It is impossible to stabilize the diabetes of an unsterilized dog / cat.
- A blood glucose curve should be made during a 12-hour hospital stay. These analyzes make it possible to adjust the treatment.
- Monitoring of the urine to check the adaptation of the dose of insulin.
