Pets with diabetes … we haven’t touched this subject since seven years ago, but recently decided it was time for a fresh look after a reader emailed us with a question about how to obtain extra insulin for her cat with diabetes. With the high cost of this life-sustaining liquid, it’s no wonder that our feline friends with diabetes are in need some of some assistance too!
Who knows how many pets are living with diabetes? Stats just aren’t kept on this the same way they are for humans. Repo
rts do indicate that incidence of diabetes is rising in pets just as it is among humans, and some vets state that up to 1% of cats in their clinic’s database may be diabetic.
Correspondent Mike Lawson did some legwork to find out what it’s like when a diabetes diagnosis hits a pet owner, whether that owner is a fellow PWD or not…
Special to the ‘Mine by Mr. Mike Lawson
Michelangelo, or Mikey to most of his friends, was living a pretty regular life when the normal signs of diabetes started to show up. When he finally went in to see someone, his glucose level was sky high and he was feeling terribly sluggish. All he wanted was a can of tuna and a scratch behind the ears.
OK, Michelangelo is a tabby cat. Yes, a Cat with Diabetes.
Just like us people with diabetes, Michelangelo needs daily insulin injections and blood testing using a glucometer. He even has a low-carb diet that he must stick to each day.
While we’re comparing humans and animals with diabetes here, many of the D-management tasks are similar between the two species. But animals aren’t as easily diagnosed and they’re not categorized into two diabetes types like humans are, plus apparently the type we consider type 1 is pretty rare in kittens and cats.
Michelangelo’s owner, Kay Passa in Orange County, CA (she’s not a PWD), knew something was wrong after she had Michelangelo fixed at the end of last year, because he never really seemed to recover from it. He had some form of the traditional signs of a diagnosis — frequent urination, extreme thirst, weight loss, and appetite changes. A checkup with the veterinarian confirmed that he had diabetes.
Like many of us in the Diabetes Online Community (DOC) who “felt alone” and were searching for others like us, Kay turned to the Internet to find answers. She found an online community of people that owned pets with diabetes, and just like in the DOC, the support she found at Feline Diabetes was a godsend.
“It was an incredibly steep learning curve and the amount of information I consumed within two weeks of Michelangelo’s diagnosis is more than they teach vets at all ever in veterinary school,” Kay says.
She now tests Michelangelo’s blood glucose every day. While checking blood sugars in pets daily isn’t the norm for everyone, Kay believes it’s the responsible thing to do.
“I feel that administering insulin without testing his blood is like driving on the freeway with a bag over my head,” she says.
Kay uses a ReliOn Micro glucometer that’s made for humans, instead of the AlphaTrak Pet Glucometer that is made specifically for pets. She says the accessibility to test strips for the human meters make them a better option.
“Some people might think that testing frequently is wasteful,” she said. “But I think that testing will help me catch illness and other issues earlier before they become more costly to treat.”
Michelangelo eats low-carb, wet cat food that costs about 50-cents per 5.5-oz can — and since he consumes about two cans a day, that’s about $1 per day for food alone. Kay also injects Michelangelo with the long-acting basal insulin Lantus.
Suzanne & China
Suzanne Watts has type 1 diabetes and was immediately suspicious when her 14-year-old cat China started urinating frequently — sometimes in places other than the litter box. When she noticed that China’s energy level was low, she took her cat to the vet and was told that China’s blood sugar was in the 300s.
Suzanne, who has lived with diabetes for 26 years, said that her vet was aware that she had diabetes and when he told her that China also had diabetes, she started laughing.
“’Are you kidding?!’ I asked him.”
China – decorated with infusion sets!
China is now on a low-carb diet and receives an insulin shot twice a day. Many veterinarians will prescribe Lantus or Levemir to animals with diabetes, since it’s becoming increasingly less popular for pets to receive a prescription for Humulin N because that older insulin brand is less predictable than Lantus or Levemir.
She said the option was presented to her, but “I never considered putting China down… I figured that if I could manage my own diabetes, then I can mange a cat’s.”
That isn’t what everyone thinks when confronted with a D-diagnosis in their pets, however.
Staying Alive
It’s a sad reality that many pet owners do put their pets down after receiving a diabetes diagnosis, according to Dr. Charles Wiedmeyer, an associate professor in veterinary clinical pathology at the University of Missouri. He says he understands why some pet owners choose this option — since managing a pet with diabetes can be very costly and labor intensive, and many don’t have pet health insurance — but there are other options.
Instead of putting a pet down, there are places to get a cat or dog into the care of someone more able to help. For example, the website Diabetic Cats In Need helps place cats with diabetes into homes with people who feel equipped to take care of them. People with diabetes are especially great at adopting animals with diabetes since they already have much of the equipment and understand how to manage it, we’re told.
That may seem like an overwhelming double-whammy, but according to Dr. Wiedmeyer, managing the diet of a pet with diabetes is easier than managing a human diabetes diet, because “dogs can eat at the same time every day and they can eat the same food day in and day out.” Right!
Another reason that managing diabetes in pets is easier than humans is that blood glucose levels don’t need to be regulated as closely as that of humans. “The consequences of hyperglycemia is not as bad in animals, and their life span is not generally as long as humans,” he said.
Suzanne said that when China was first diagnosed, she tested her blood glucose level much like humans do. “We pricked her ear because her paws are dirty,” she said. “And it was honestly more painful for me than it was for her.” Now that her diet and insulin dosages have become routine, Suzanne doesn’t test China’s glucose levels regularly.
Because of the shorter life span, Dr. Widmeyer said that he doesn’t normally suggest that pet owners test the glucose levels of their animals regularly. “Diabetes in animals usually doesn’t lead to neuropathy or kidney problems,” he said. For this reason he also rarely suggests that pet owners change the insulin dosages for their pets.
The bottom line is that: just like for us PWDs, with a little extra effort, pets with diabetes can live well.
“If managed properly, animals with diabetes can live long and healthy lives,” Dr. Widmeyer assures.
This seems like a perfect opportunity to quote our friend, Dr. Bill Polonsky, who often says: “Well-controlled diabetes is the leading cause of nothing” — whether you’re human or not.
Kay Passa, seriously? If that is really her name that is the coolest name ever. If not, that is the funniest made up name ever. Just sayin’!
I’m real
To whoever is in charge of this site: You need to remove the bag of Purina D/M (dry only) from the picture at the bottom of this page. ANY dry food is a contributing cause of Feline Diabetes, including all the “prescription” varieties. There is absolutely no reason for any cats to eat any brand of dry food, ever. Period.
Dry food is better for their teeth and easier than trying to get my cat to floss and not eat the floss.
There have been numerous studies disproving the “dry food is good for teeth” myth, but to sum up: cats generally swallow and do not chew their food so there isn’t any way for dry food to be hitting the teeth in the first place to make it better for them, especially since tartar and plaque build up at the gum line and not anywhere dry food might accidentally hit a tooth’s surface.
Either way, I’d choose dental issues over kidney failure any day of the week.
DM is Diabetes Management Food – sold by prescription at the vet only. It is MADE specifically for Diabetic Cats.
We were also told by several vets that dry food is better for cats’ teeth & stomachs. I’m very surprised to hear someone claim the opposite!
The DM food in the picture was taken from the home of China the Kitty mentioned in the story.
It’s true that dry food tends to be higher in carb-count, but China doesn’t eat only wet food. Suzanne mixes the two together to get her to eat.
One unique thing about diabetic cats is that they CAN go into remission, unlike other species, and the biggest piece to remission is getting them on a species-appropriate diet.
Dry food has a lot to do with causing diabetes in cats in the first place: too high of carbs being fed to an obligate carnivore. Normally, cats naturally consume ~12% carbs or less (it’s recommended for diabetic cats to have even less than that!). So when cats are consuming more carbs than what their bodies are naturally designed to handle, their pancreas is working overtime and they end up in a similar situation to Type 2 human diabetics.
There are only a couple of dry foods out there (and NONE of them are the “prescription” ones) that contain less than 20% carbs, but even feeding those “lower carb” dry foods still leaves a cat chronically dehydrated because they get most of their water from food and are unable to unnaturally consume enough water from a bowl to make up for the lack of water in dry food.
Vets are normally NOT trained on nutrition and what little training they may receive is taught by the pet food companies, so it’s simply through ignorance and misplaced trust that they believe the “prescription diabetic” food they’re being pushed to sell their clients is any good for diabetics. Here’s a look at them:
The only Royal Canin food even remotely acceptable carbwise for a diabetic cat is their Recovery RS at 7% carbs. All other varieties are well over that 12% with the Dry DD being a whopping 38% carbs.
Purina dry is 31% carbs. Purina DM wet is excellent at 3% carbs, HOWEVER, it is much more expensive and higher in fat than cheaper options you can find in your grocery store or local pet store (like Fancy Feast or Friskies). As for the Purina DM Savory Select, it has 10% carbs, which is still pretty high up there for a diabetic cat to be eating.
Hills m/d WET (my vet originally sold me the dry version, which always has even more carbs than the wet versions) has 14% carbs, still too much for cats in general, much less diabetic cats. The closest any of their prescription foods comes is 12% carbs for their a/d, which isn’t even for diabetic cats in the first place.
Since I test my cat, I can vouch for how much carbs impact his BG numbers and the lower the carbs, the better and more stable his BG numbers are and the lower his insulin dose.
*Note: NEVER change your diabetic cat from dry to wet food without home-testing since diet change alone has been known to decrease cats’ BG by over 100 points or more. Because of this, if you’re not home-testing, your cat can end up with an insulin overdose! This huge drop is why diet change is such an effective tool in managing feline diabetes and getting a cat regulated and even into remission (not needing insulin).
Evo Turkey and Chicken dry food is also extremely low carb, and is safe for a diabetic cat. Morgan has been on it for two years now, and it did not change his levels.
One plus is NO ingredients from China.
Having a cat BORN with Diabetes, and having a cat DEVELOP Diabetes is different.
Many cats who become diabetic can go into remission.
A cat born with diabetes will have it all of his life.
A cat born with Diabetes will also have unique medical issues that may not always make sense – even to their Vet.
I have NEVER tested Morgan’s levels – and have no plans to.
He’s now 8 years old and it;s obvious that how we’ve handled everything works.
Diabetes is stressful enough.
It’s even worse when you have a growing kitten – but after a while it becomes a routine.
The stress is a lot less, you know them so well that you know if anything is even slightly off.
Yes, Evo is another great low carb food for diabetics. I didn’t know about there not being any ingredients from China; that makes me like their food even more.
Morgan is very luck to have a vet so knowledgeable in diabetes in your area. I had to start testing Mikey’s levels because there was no other way without home testing to keep up on his dosing changes as he grew. I have noticed over the last month since he’s not really needed any dose adjustments that it’s become much more routine for us as well.
One thing I hope you’re wrong about is that a cat born with diabetes will have it for life. As my vet told me, Type 1 feline diabetics are so rare that it’s unknown if they can eventually go into remission like Type 2 cats (but most likely, it’s not possible). I don’t hold out hope that Mikey will ever go into remission, but I also don’t discount the possibility, especially since he has at least the next 20 years for science to catch up.
I’m also very lucky that Mikey has no other issues besides the diabetes. The only time he’s been to the vet besides shots and neuter was for the initial UTI that led to his diabetes diagnosis and a few follow-ups after that. He hasn’t even been back to the vet’s since the end of October.
Kay,
While the last thing I want to do is discourage you – I also would hate to see you get false hope with Mikey ever not needing insulin.
When I got Morgan, I did tons of research and contacted every vet I could find with experience (I went worldwide based on Vet Journal write ups) with kitten diabetics. Not one of them had their kittens survive it. And they all wanted more information on how Morgan was doing.
Three vets I was friends with looked at all his tests and told me he would never be normal, more than likely would not survive and that I should consider putting him to sleep.
I was very lucky to find a vet who felt he deserved a chance, and thought he could help him. It was very rough first year getting his levels stable, and he was also a peanut. He stayed 6 pounds for forever, and when he hit 7 he was finally tough enough for his neutering.
Six months later at 1 1/2 years old he had double cataract surgery at Cornell in Ithaca.
Although on the whole he is healthy – he gets unexplained low grade fevers. With a “normal” cat you would never know. They knock him off his feet – and he needs antibiotics as soon as he shows signs.
He had some problems last year and needed a sonogram – it told us nothing. Blood work – tells us nothing. So Morgan is treated most times by the symptoms.
For years he ate 7 meals a day – he’s finally now down to 4 meals.
It’s always a challenge – but I think we’re both very very lucky that our boys have families that Believe in them – and that they deserve every possible chance.
I know only too well to not get my hopes up that Mikey might ever go into remission, but I like to entertain the possibility of it simply because of the rarity of diabetes in cats so young. If adult cats can go into remission with Type 2, then perhaps young cats might have the potential to go into remission with Type 1?
With my vet, he referred to specialists as well and he said the prognosis was either that it was transient and he would quickly recover in a couple of weeks (didn’t happen) or he was a juvenile feline diabetic, which, just as you found out, was not good odds for survival.
I was lucky enough to find online support and tools for managing his diabetes and his dosing levels and have the support of my vet to do whatever is necessary to keep him healthy. I was also very glad that my vet never once recommended putting him to sleep, especially since he had never developed any of the nasty side-effects that occur from chronic hyperglycemia and simply had elevated glucose levels.
Michelangelo is 11 months old today and the first 4 months of his treatment (from 6 months old to ~9 1/2 months), it was quite a lot of work on my part with frequent testing and dosage adjustments to keep up with his growth spurts. The better his numbers were, the more he grew. The more he grew, the worse his numbers would get, so it was quite a challenging balancing act to not overdose him with insulin and also make sure he was getting enough insulin to keep him under the renal threshold! This past month or so, his growing has slowed down significantly and I finally feel like I have a chance to breathe again.
You are absolutely right: our cats are very blessed to have people who care about their well-being and are willing to put in the extra effort needed to keep them healthy and happy. For me, I’m lucky that at this point in Michelangelo’s life, that this effort is fairly minimal (just testing and dosage adjustments), but even if he had more complications, he is definitely worth it.
I was born with diabetes, and I was diagnosed when I was 12 weeks old. My Doctor does not want me tested every day – since my insulin needs time to adjust any time it changes. My parents know me so well that if I am off even a little in personality – I go to the Kitty Spa.
Usually what happens is I have a low grade fever and I have to go on antibiotics. I have always had unusual medical issues – and I always will. One thing is my pancreas is not perfect.
I eat 2 1/2 cans of Purina One every day, 1/8 cup of Evo Cat & Kitten food, and I get PROZyme in all of my food. I am on ProZinc insulin twice a day which is made for kitties.
I hope Mucky is as lucky as I am – I will be 9 years old in September.
DM is Diabetes Management Dry food and sold by prescription only for DIABETIC Cats.
A vet told me dogs only get T2, not T1. I wonder if same is true of cats?
There are rare instances when an animal is born with diabetes – like Morgan and Mikey.
In those cases they are usually type 1. Most don’t survive kittenhood, and it’s tough to regulate a growing kitten.
I know Morgan has unique issues that are always a challenge to his Doctor.
There’s no way to test for T1 vs. T2 in cats, which is why Mikey is considered by the vet to be differentially diagnosed as T1 since he was so young at diagnosis, had no pre-existing conditions or infections or other issues, and did not go into remission within a few days to a few weeks after starting insulin (which is what usually happens with younger cats).
And I can vouch for how tough it is getting a kitten regulated! He’s now almost 11 months old and it’s getting a bit easier, but when he was growing more, I had to test him quite often throughout the day because he needed dosage increases on at least a weekly basis and his weight fluctuations would frequently cause him to go unexpectedly low on a good dose.
My childhood best friend, Maxie Malone, was a Husky/Springer Spaniel mix. At the time we were not aware that animals could have diabetes. She was 6yrs old when she became sick, and it only took one week to come to the point of no return. She couldn’t eat, drink, or walk. It was the most difficult goodbye knowing that simple awareness and earlier detection could have saved her life.
I am sad to hear about your friend Maxie.
Thank heavens veterinary medicine has come so far. Many pets passed away because of lack of knowledge or wrong information.
I found out recently that the treatment we did for our first cat with chronic cystitis years ago actually created an even deadlier bacteria.
I am glad we have better vets, and much better knowledge
I’m not sure if Dr. Widmeyer is talking about canines specifically, because felines *often* experience neuropathy and kidney problems along with their diabetes diagnosis.
For those cats that *DO* experience neuropathy, ask your vet about using Zobaline as it’s been known to completely reverse it in cats.
Kay,
Soon the whole thing will become just another day. I’t s funny saying that 8 years later – because the first two years with Morgan were such a roller coaster.
It will be easier when Mikey stops growing in a few months. I also looked at the chart you keep – great job. Mikey runs a lot lower than Morgan which is a plus.
I remember in the beginning there were a few times when Morgan was so high the Doc’s glucose meter couldn’t read him. The last time he stayed he went up in the 400′s again.
Because of his history – even if he refuses dinner – he still gets his ProZinc – just a lower dose.
I’m not sure if I ever explained how the Doc checks him. In the beginning he was there twice a week at different times for blood. Now if he changes him – he’ll go back in a week at one time, the following week another time, the week after a totally different time.
He has a curve system and it works. And he’s got 8 years of Morgan’s.
I am glad our little guys are both poster cats for Kittens Born with Diabetes.
I opted for home testing because I didn’t have the money for curves at the vet, nor would the partially-feral Michelangelo be able to tolerate that all too well (he has *really* high stress-related BG numbers when at the vet vs. at home, which would have skewed his numbers anyway). Besides, I didn’t want to be away from cute and adorable little Mikey for that long.
“I am glad our little guys are both poster cats for Kittens Born with Diabetes.”
Same here! I feel that unfortunately, too many people choose to put to sleep their young ones when getting a diabetes diagnosis when *most* of the time, it’s simply transient and caused by something else (i.e. infections, steroids). If turns out to be lifelong, like in Morgan the Pirate Gato’s and Mikey’s cases, after the growing slows down it definitely gets easier. And thanks for letting me know that it’ll get even easier for me after the next year as well.