Is this Pre-Diabetes?

[Casey Warner]

I have a 6 y/o cat, Tony, who I recently took to the vet because he was acting weird. He has never been diagnosed with diabetes.

He wasn't eating normally but is now, he was being very odd and is normal now, and may have lost weight. Additionally, I had been battling fleas for several months and now that they're pretty much gone, Tony is itching/scratching himself bald on his back. I'm not convinced this is related to fleas.

The vet did a full workup. He said the kidney values were a bit high, but nothing concerning. Everything else was normal except two things: his thyroid levels were low and his urine sugars were elevated. Blood glucose was normal.

The vet spoke to an internal medicine specialist, then with me, and believes the stress of the car ride may have caused those two things to be elevated. This was his first car ride in years and he was hollering the whole time. Not even meowing, just hollering. It was awful.

I'm supposed to go back in a few weeks for a recheck.

Based on what I've said, does this sound like it could be diabetes? I can't remember if they checked the pancreas values, I'll have to get a copy of the results.

I'm not seeing the same signs as I saw in Brownie who was diabetic. But if this is pre-diabetes, I certainly want to get on top of it ASAP. The vet freely admitted that he doesn't know what's going on and doesn't recall ever seeing anything like this in another cat.

I would definitely like thoughts on this. I thought elevated urine sugars were very bad.

 

[Vyktors Mum]

I would get yourself some pee strips from the pharmacy and do some checks yourself from home, he’s likely going to be just as stressed next time he goes to the vet. I hate to say it but yes I would be concerned about diabetes, sugar in the urine indicates elevated levels for hours not just a stress spike and the sooner you get onto it the better

ETA I had missed that his BG was normal - very strange! I would still do some tests from home to get a better understanding, maybe something just went wrong with the vet test.

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

You've already been billed for a full workup and a consultation with an internal medicine specialist and then there's the stress Tony is under. Your profile says "Diabetes sucks" so I assume you've been through this once before but that's some knowledge you can bring to your vet and you'll feel better knowing you've tested Tony.
Vets sometimes look for things that aren't there and miss the obvious.

 

[Casey Warner]

I would get yourself some pee strips from the pharmacy and do some checks yourself from home, he’s likely going to be just as stressed next time he goes to the vet.

Thanks! I totally forgot I could buy my own strips. Any recommendations on brands? It's been a few years since I had to buy any and even then I only needed the basic AZO brand strips for a UTI.

 

[Gracie85]

Regarding the itchy bald spot on his back, the first sign of fleas on my first cat was that she would lose all the fur just before her tail. This would happen before we saw any obvious signs of fleas. She was just allergic to flea bites, so this area on her lower back would react long before she had enough fleas that we could tell. So I would make sure his fleas are all the way gone, not just pretty much gone, before deciding this itchy bald spot on his back was not from fleas.