Diabetic cat is still drinking a lot

[pepsiowner]

My cat who is almost 7 years old was diagnosed w/ diabetes about a month ago. She was drinking a lot so we had taken her to the vet to have her checked. We started w/ 2 units of Lantus insulin twice a day and when the vet did a glucose curve a week later they decided to keep her on two units. The problem is that my cat still seems to be drinking a lot. She has been drinking about 8 oz. a day but the last 24 hours was 9 oz. Shouldn't she not be drinking that much? It makes me question if the insulin is working because she was drinking a lot when we initially took her in a month ago. She goes to her water bowl way too much. Should we rush back to the vet or is this typical of diabetic cats?

 

[Jen & Squeak]

Hi and welcome!

To know what is going on with your cat, you need to start testing your cat's blood glucose levels at home like human diabetics do. Sounds intimidating but it really helps! See the feline diabetes faq listed just above and then come back with more info about yourselves and questions

Jen

 

[Mary & Stormy Blue]

Generally, if a cat on insulin is still drinking a lot of water, and they are on an all low carb canned food diet, (low carb canned foods are what diabetic cats should be eating), then it is very likely that the cat is still having high blood glucose numbers for whatever reason.

Are you home testing your cat? It is very important to home test diabetics so that you know how the insulin is affecting them. Curves at the vet are not generally as accurate as curves done at home. Are you feeding an all canned food low carbohydrate diet?

~M

 

[Taline & Bibo]

Good Morning,
My cat also was diagnosed a month ago, and immediately after the diagnosis, I switched him to only wet food fancy feast pate variety diet. And the change in absorption of water was drastic, and this was before starting him on insulin. Now he barely drinks water. It is not normal for a cat on insulin to drink a lot of water, but if you're still feeding Pepsi dry food, that might be the answer. So please change the diet, if you haven't and get a glucometer to check his blood glucose. Everyone is so kind and helpful here, please feel free to post your questions. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Hope + (((Baby)))GA]

As others stated, if you are feeding dry, that alone may be the reason. An all canned diet is best for diabetics. DO NOT SWITCH the food till you are hometesting. Hometesting will give you the info you need to see how well your kitty is doing on the insulin. Also, removing dry food can drastically reduce the numbers and now those 2 units of Lantus become too much and you could have a hypo event. Would also suggest you have some blood taken to check the kidney values.