Excessive thirst and urination and to avoid low blood sugar hypoglycaemia due to insulin over dose.
Cat diabetes treatment australia.
The goal is to control the signs of diabetes weight loss despite a good appetite.
Daily insulin injections along with watching what the cat eats can help get blood sugar levels back on track and allow the cat to act normal.
Your cat may need to board at the vet office for a few days until an appropriate starting dose is found.
Early intervention with diabetes as with so many other diseases gives your cat the best chance of a better life and possible remission.
Approximately 50 of cats diagnosed with diabetes and treated appropriately will go into remission and no longer require insulin injections.
It s felt that a low carbohydrate diet is probably best for cats with diabetes.
Get your cat stabilized.
One increasingly effective supplement helpful in treating cat diabetes is fish oil.
Diet is certainly a component.
In the authors experience most diabetic cats tend to fluctuate within a narrowed glycemic range over the course of the day unlike dogs.
A feline dose is one regular strength capsule per 10 lbs of body weight given once daily.
Cats with diabetes are most often treated with injectable insulin.
Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment with long acting insulin and a low carbohydrate diet will increase the chance of your cat going into remission.
When your cat is diagnosed with diabetes and starting insulin therapy your cat will be stabilized at the vet clinic.
It is a source of omega 3 fatty acids and fish oil may increase insulin sensitivity.
Insulin injection see figure 1 can be taught to most owners and with a bit of experience both owners and cats usually adapt to these injections very well.
Treatment of diabetes in cats usually requires daily administration of insulin injections and appropriate nutrition and must be specifically tailored for each individual.
Oral drugs for humans hypoglycemic medications such as glipizide rarely work in controlling diabetes in cats.
This allows your cat to be closely monitored by your vet for signs of overdose.
Diabetic remission is when a cat no longer requires insulin therapy and maintains a normal blood glucose level for more than four weeks without insulin treatment.
However the general aim of hyperglycemic treatment is to have a bg nadir of 100 mg dl with an overall range during the curve period between 100 and 300 mg dl.
It is more likely if the diabetes is caught early treatment is started promptly and the cat is closely monitored.
Not all diabetic cats can or will go into remission.
While some cats will require insulin for the rest of their lives some cats if treated early enough can become non diabetic again.