New to FDMB

[dvidlak]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, but unfortunately not to feline diabetes. In the past year, our third cat was diagnosed with diabetes, quite a shocker! Our first two diabetics have been gone for many years, so we're just coping with one case right now. I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with multiple diabetic cats? I've spoken to my vet about the chances there may be some other causal link for the high incidence of diabetes among my cats (i.e. viral) but there just isn't the research out there to answer the question. Other than the fact that all 3 cats were overweight, there really weren't any other common factors: two were males, one female; none were littermates. They were diagnosed at 5 (female), 7 (male), and 8 (male) years of age. All cats were being fed measured amounts of Science Diet Light (dry food only) at the time they were diagnosed. I'd love to hear from others who might have multiple diabetic cats or any insight into why this keeps happening to my cats. Thanks all!!

 

[tuckers mom]

Hi and welcome,

I do have multiple diabetic cats, but I adopted them that way, so I guess that doesn't count

I think the common factor with your cats is the diet. Dry food, even if it says "light or diet" is simply not a good choice for kitties. Check out catinfo.org, it's a guide to feeding cats written by a vet, she sometimes posts here too. There's a ton of great information on her site about nutrition, including switching cats over from dry to canned food.

Have you talked to the vet about starting insulin, if so, what kind?

Is there anything else going on with your kitty, any infection or maybe a dental needed that would cause BGs to rise?

 

[MommaOfMuse]

Well both my diabetics were adopted as diabetic (one I have now and one that hasn't arrived yet waiting on her to stabilize before transport). But a couple of things that are common in both humans and cats with diabetes...Being overweight and poor food choices (high carb foods). And with cats some breeds are also most predisposed to becoming diabetics like Siamese.

There is really no good dry food for cats, while many cats do fine on it, it can lead to health problems. I have 11 soon to be 12 cats, everyone here eats what my diabetic eats, good old fashioned Friskies pate style canned catfood. My diabetic Maxwell, was 485 when he was diagnoised, within two weeks of taking him off dry food, putting him on canned low carb high protein only diet and a short course of insulin (Lantus). Maxwell was in remission and off insulin where he has remained for 7 months with no sign of returning to insulin. Diet plays a huge part of what causes and what helps manage diabetes. Some cats blood sugars will drop as much as 100 points just be removing the dry food.

Now not only is Maxwell off insulin all 10 of my nondiabetics are doing better than ever on the diet switch. My guys with allergies have had those clear up and disappear. No more UTIs from any of them. And my 2 kittens that have grown up on canned food are some of the shinest and sleekest cats in the household.

The 3 biggest tools I have learned in managing my Maxwell's diabetes are: 1) Home testing, 2) Low carb/high protein canned diet 3) a long lasting, gentle insulin (Lantus in our case although Levermir and PZI are also good choices).

Mel, Maxwell and The Fur Gang

 

[PebsNMunchsReagan]

Hello Dvidlak and welcome to the forum.
I'm still very new to the board, but my sugar kitty was also on Sci Diet Adult Light for the majority of her life (She is almost 6). She was just dx on May 17th. From what I've seen in switching her food so far, I'd say that was the culprit for her. Blah!
Everyone here is very supportive and informative. Big hugs to you and your sugar kitty!

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

All cats were being fed measured amounts of Science Diet Light (dry food only) at the time they were diagnosed. I'd love to hear from others who might have multiple diabetic cats or any insight into why this keeps happening to my cats. Thanks all!!

I agree and I think that the problem is the dry weight loss food. In my case, Bandit was diagnosed with diabetes after 3 months on w/d, and and then another 7 on Iams weight control. I've been around here for a little under 2 years now, and there seems to be a high incidence of cats showing up on weight loss or light diets. Of course, you could say the correlation could be the obesity, but in Bandit's case he had already lost the extra weight a good year before his diagnosis, and I had been maintaining his weight after the loss by continuing to feed the dry weight loss food.

These diets are extremely high in carbs. Because of all of the extra carbs in the cat's system, the pancreas works much harder to keep Blood Glucose levels under control. Eventually, it becomes over taxed and burns out. The good news is that most cats also go into remission once the diet has been changed to a low carb wet diet, and are given a long-acting insulin like Lantus or Levemir with tight regulation (daily home testing).

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

I have had multiple diabetic cats. The first two, Rascal and Witn, I owned when they became diabetic. Both were 17 at the time they were diagnosed. I have also adopted two more diabetic cats. Dry food was the cause of all of their diabetes.

Over the years I have learned a lot about caring for a diabetic cat and that is why I adopted Spot and Ricky. I currently have 8 cats (1 diabetic) and all of them are fed a low carb canned food diet. In fact, I am more careful about their diets then my own. :lol:

I don't know if you hometest with your previous diabetic cats, but that is something I urge you to do with your newest sugar kitty. Also you should change your cat(s) diets to a canned food diet. Many of us feed our cats either Fancy Feast or Friskies canned food. You will also find that when you switch their diets to canned, they will begin to shed the excess weight. Several of my cats were pudgy before I made the switch and now they are all lean, fit and have lots more energy.