by Nicole Cook

Created on: January 22, 2009   Last Updated: February 08, 2009

The most commonly observed sign that may lead you to believe your cat has diabetes is excessive urination. Noticing this symptom is often more difficult in multi-cat households with communal litter boxes. In addition to excessive urination or polyuria, other symptoms may present themselves to you. These include increased thirst, increased appetite, weight loss lethargy and neuropathy.

Neuropathy is a disorder that causes weakness in the rear legs is often what (leads) to a diagnosis. (1) The excessive thirst or polydipsia in a cat with unmanaged diabetes due to high glucose levels in the blood. In a healthy non-diabetic cat, the body uses glucose by turning it into energy. Once digested, glucose will enter the blood stream, insulin is then secreted by the pancreas which then instructs the bodies cells to convert the sugar into energy that is usable. It is up to the pancreas to continually secrete the correct amount of insulin, in a sense the pancreas plays a balancing act, secreting just enough insulin to keep the blood glucose levels in check. This prevents the blood glucose from reaching levels that are too high, called hyperglycemia or dropping to levels that are too low, called hypoglycemia.

However in a diabetic cat the body does not perform this process correctly, and does not use the glucose like it is supposed to. There are two types of diabetes; "Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin, and type 2 when the body's cells don't respond well to insulin. Both result in high blood sugar levels because the body is unable to process the available glucose". (1) These high sugar levels will then cause the cat to drink excessive amounts of water in an attempt to flush out the high levels of glucose. However the excessive urination can cause complications, some of which can be life threatening.

Pet owners are often shocked by the actual amount of weight their pet has lost when they bring them into their veterinary office to be weighed. Even though pets our usually brought in for a overall health check once or twice a year, the weight loss can happen in between vet visits without any other obvious sign of illness. This is what makes early diagnosis of diabetes so hard because during the onset of diabetes, "cats (may) remain active and alert with few other signs of the disease" (1) Indeed, it will soon become more obvious that the cat is ill because other signs will soon emerge. These signs include " poor hair coat, liver disease, and secondary bacterial infections. " One life threatening condition known as ketoacidosis can develop in unmanaged feline diabetes and is considered a serious emergency.

There are precautions that can be taken in order to prevent these life threatening complications and careful monitoring of your cats glucose level is one of them. Home testing is a great way to safely monitor your pet from home. It allows you to gain the knowledge needed by your vet in order to monitor how well. Their diabetes is being managed and how well your cat is responding to treatment.

References:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/d iabetes-info.htm

Learn more about this author, Nicole Cook.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.