When the Vet Says Your Cat Has Feline Diabetes

To the extent that I’m familiar with Type 2 Diabetes is only what I read when my doctor mentioned how I seemed headed in that direction. Lots of people over 60 are diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes but what I wasn’t acutely aware of is so are cats as they move into their senior years. For me, I radically changed my diet, lost a ton of weight and I maintain a regular exercise program; and I’m no longer at risk. For our cat, Pica, well, he is not quite so fortunate. He has Type 2 feline diabetes.

I feel very guilty about his feline diabetes diagnosis. We just heard the news from his vet. Although some cats are prone, others develop diabetes due to a steady diet of dry cat food. Dry cat food is not healthful food for a cat, which I didn’t fully realize. I read what a renowned veterinarian had to say on the subject on the About.com cats website, and I personally know the Cats Expert Fanny, so if she says a cat should not eat dry cat food, I trust her. The vet she quoted on her website, of all things, turns out to be the vet / breeder from Orange County who raised Pica to the age of 4 months before we adopted him. It’s a small world. Pica’s breeder warned me, too, and gave me a long lecture, but I didn’t pay attention.

I thought what the hey, all cats eat dry cat food and I’ve never a problem. What do the experts know?

They know enough not to feed your cat dry cat food.

It’s like crunchy little french fries, filled with fat, calories and carbohydrates. Cats really need meat. As second choice, high protein canned or pouched food without additives or fillers like corn, wheat, vegetables or fruit. It’s just a lot more convenient to feed them dry food, which is why people do it. Less expensive, too. But times change.

My husband and I are going to the vet’s offices tonight to learn how to give Pica insulin injections twice a day. The silver lining, if there is such a thing, is if feline diabetes has to happen to any of our 3 cats, at least it is our most affectionate and docile. It should not be difficult to give him a shot. It will be harder on us, I imagine, than on Pica. We will also monitor his blood glucose by pricking his ear every few hours and testing his blood. Insulin is expensive, too.

Among our 3 cats, the two Ocicats and our Ragdoll Jackson, it is Jackson who does not want to eat canned cat food or the raw meat. He is on strike. We have since discarded all of the dry cat food and crunchy carbohydrate treats. We’re running a tight ship at the Weintraub house. I mention all of this in case you have cats at home. You might to reconsider their diet and read about how diet can lead to Type 2 Diabetes in Felines. I’d like to save you the sorrow and guilt, if I can.

It’s just a good thing that I sell real estate in Sacramento in such a manner that I generally am not away from my home office for more than a few hours at a time. I don’t know how people manage caring for cats with feline diabetes who are gone all day; my heart goes out to all caregivers of diabetic cats. I wish it weren’t so. But this is what we sign on for with pets.