A diagnosis of diabetes mellitus is enough to strike fear into the heart of any cat owner. Cats, unfortunately, do develop diabetes fairly often. Once a diagnosis of diabetes has been reached, the next step is deciding the best method of controlling the symptoms of the disease.
How Feline Diabetes Develops
In order to understand the treatments and diets that work best in controlling feline diabetes, it is necessary to understand how feline diabetes develops. There are major differences seen between feline and canine diabetes.
In feline diabetes, affected cats usually suffer from type 2 diabetes, in which the cells in the pancreas still retain some ability to be able to secrete insulin. This varies from canine diabetes in that dogs usually develop type 1 diabetes and a diabetic dog typically does not retain the ability to secrete insulin.
Factors that make diabetes more likely to occur for a cat include a genetic predisposition and being overweight or obese. This also varies from dogs, in which weight does not appear to play a large role (if any role at all) in the likelihood of developing diabetes.
Choosing a Diet for a Diabetic Cat
For a diabetic cat, diet becomes an extremely important factor in regulating blood glucose levels and controlling the symptoms of diabetes. Because the pancreas of a cat with diabetes is usually still able to secrete at least minimal amounts of insulin, controlling the amounts of carbohydrates and proteins in the diet can be an effective method of controlling diabetes.
A diet that is low in carbohydrates and high in protein can be used in cats to help regulate blood glucose levels and, as a result, control the clinical signs that occur due to diabetes. Carbohydrates, of course, include the sugars such as glucose, fructrose and sucrose. These sugars are the very thing which we seek to control when we attempt to regulate an animal with diabetes.
In fact, when feline diabetes is diagnosed early enough in the course of the disease and proper treatment is instituted without delay, it is possible for some cats fed a low carbohydrate, high protein diet to actually go into remission. Proper treatment involves making certain that blood glucose levels stay within acceptable ranges, which means that insulin injections will usually be necessary. Some cats may respond to oral hypoglycemic agents in place of insulin but, for many cats, these medications are less than effective.
Remission for Some Cats with Diabetes
Whether using insulin injections or oral hypoglycemic agents, the addition of a low carbohydrate, high protein diet can, for some cats, allow the pancreas to recover to the point that it is able to produce enough insulin to resume regulating the cat’s blood glucose levels, essentially allowing the cat to enter remission from diabetes, at least for a period of time.
This remission is usually only possible if the disease is detected and treated early. If the disease is allowed to progress without intervention, the cells in the pancreas may suffer a gradual reduction in their ability to secrete insulin, making it impossible for the cat to ever produce enough insulin by itself to regulate the blood glucose. These cats will not be capable of entering remission and will require the continuation of insulin therapy (or oral hypoglycemic agents, if they have been effective). However, even for these cats, a specialized diet low in carbohydrates and high in fat can be extremely helpful in maintaining stable blood glucose levels.
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