Anyone heard of transient diabetes?

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Erin Patters

Erin Patters

Member Since 2015
So....after a lengthy battle with the vet, which I won't get into here...heres a breif rundown:
Vet took blood at annual exam for our boy.
BG was 405!
We decided to home test for a week when fructosamine came back normal...and the fact that he gets highly stressed going to vet. I mean it. As soon as we hit the car he is vomiting, peeing, and popping...the poor guy .
BG at gome stayed around 55-70. We tested different times during the day, and made sure to do so 2-3 hours after earing as well.
Took back to vet, he stayed overnight to calm down. BG in morning was 82 or 92. Back home, 74.

Turns out that for the past few months of weekly home tests he's been stable at 55-75.
No diet changes, nothing (at the time).
So...apparently not full diabetic. Vet was very dismisive of a possible misdiagnosis, and decided to call it transient diabetes. Based on the last couple months and his very abrupt and dismissive attitude when confronted, I don't actually know if that prognosis fits this situation.

So my question is if any of you have heard of transient diabetes with OUR sort of situation, or not applicable?
Could anything else you've heard of account for this high of a BG and not be diabetes?
His other labs came back normal.
Online searches of transient diabetes don't seem to fit our parameters, so I'm just not sure. I appreciate any and all feedback, thank you so much!
 

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Hi Erin. It seems like your kitty might just have stress induced hyperglycemia because his fructosamine is normal and his glucose levels at home are normal though 405 is quite high but if he gets very stressed it could well be from stress and you should trust your knowledge of your kitty too. Hopefully other more experienced members of the board will also reply and give their opinion.
 
Hi Erin, I don't have enough experience to comment on your vets diagnosis. But I had to to tell you how much I love the pic of your kitty with the snowcat!!!
 
Yes, hyperglycemia can be transient. Many things can cause it, ie: dehydration, stress among others. I would just continue to monitor BG, drinking, and urination. And if not on a low carb wet diet I would transition to one. Just because your cat isn't an "active" (diagnosed) diabetic right now doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. I wonder if your cats pancreas just wasn't able to secrete extra insulin to respond to the stress levels he felt, like the heart producing and releasing stress hormones. But whatever the real cause, I would take precautions.
 
Agree with Voula and with Anita's suggestions above. Stress-induced hyperglycemia can raise BG ~100 pts, but it's rare (though still possible) for it to go up a lot more than that just from stress. Infections or other painful conditions can increase BG also, temporarily. So, I think your best bet is to change to a low-carb food as a preventive tactic and then monitor BG every once in a while. I wonder if the fact that the vet is calling it "transient diabetes" could be a semantics issue...
 
Another term for "transient" diabetes that is often used is "subclinical" diabetes. It basically means that the cat is diabetic, but the symptoms only manifest itself with certain stressors such as high carb diets, obesity, oral steroids, prolonged stress, or because of a concurrent infection/illness, etc. Cats with subclinical diabetes can achieve normal blood glucose levels if those stressors are removed, without the use of insulin. Cats in remission that no longer need insulin could also be considered to have subclinical diabetes.

Bandit is a diabetic in remission, and I've seen his BG go up to the 400s before because of stress. He had an degloving accident a few years ago where he had to have part of his tail amputated, and his BG was in the 400s the whole time he was in the hospital. Once he came home, his BG came right down to normal after about 48 hours and we didn't even need to start a short stint of insulin. His BG will also go up if he's sick or has an infection, or if he eats high carb food.

I completely agree with @Anitafrnhamer , that even if your cat hasn't been on insulin, he's exhibiting diabetic symptoms under stress, so you'll want to treat him like a diabetic in remission, and avoid the triggers for high BG by putting him on a diabetic safe diet (any low carb canned food) and avoiding diabetic stressors whenever possible. You might also want to invest in a glucose meter and learn how to home test him, and grab a test once a month or so or if he's not acting like himself. A high BG number for a diabetic cat that usually maintains normal BG without insulin is a warning sign that something is up.
 
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