Advice needed for a diabetic cat


  • My cat is eight years old and suddenly came down with diabetes last September. The vet is unable to control the sugar. We have used Vetsulin and now we’re on Prozinc.He has bloodwork every two weeks it was study at 4:05 which is hard but then it shot up again to 579. He is showing some neurological symptoms. I just don’t know what to do do you have any advice?



  • Hi there, this is Dr Linda, a vet with 10 years of clinical experience.

     

    I'm sorry to hear of your cat's diagnosis and know that diabetes can be a frustrating disease to deal with.

     

    When the sugar levels aren't responding as we'd expect, this can be due to many reasons including:

     

    • Concurrent disease such as pancreatitis, acromegaly or a UTI
    • Improper use of insulin (for example, not keeping it in the fridge, shaking vigoursly or not injecting under the skin)
    • Over eating, eating in between meals and/or eating the wrong food
    • Etc.

     

    We sometimes need to perform further testing to get to the bottom of insulin resistance.

     

    You mention the blood levels 'shooting up' one day but we should not look at this as a measure of the overall control. If stressed at the vets, this will massively affect results.

    Rather, we should get a 'Fructosamine' blood levels. This tells us about sugar levels over the last 3 weeks and is a much better indicator of sugar control.


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