Diabetic Cats Who Stop Being Diabetic
Owners of diabetic cats need to be aware of a syndrome in which their cats are no longer diabetic.
While that sounds like good news, it rarely is, for several reasons.
Maintaining low carbohydrate density in the diet is important in controlling diabetes.
First, this is not a predictable syndrome. One never knows when it is going to happen. It happens in but a small percentage of cats and there is no way to know which cats will be affected.
Second, it’s not a permanent change, and reversion to diabetic status is just as unpredictable as the former switch was.
Causes for this problem are not clearly defined. Endocrinologists agree that the first step is for the Beta cells in the Islets of Langerhans, embedded in the pancreas, to resume producing insulin. Perhaps a time period of our providing insulin gives them a rest. After all, it is widely believed that diabetes results when the Beta cells are exhausted. In some cases perhaps capacity for insulin production still exists; the cells are merely tired, not exhausted.
A recuperating period then allows insulin to enter the bloodstream again, processing blood sugar (glucose) along with the insulin we have provided, dropping blood sugar levels to a dangerous, even deadly level. Observed, these patients will exhibit predictable signs in this order: lethargy, vomiting, loss of consciousness, seizures and death.
If you are fortunate enough for the episode to occur when you can see your kitty entering it, you can administer highly concentrated sugar solutions, such as Karo syrup. Of course, this option is viable only in awake cats.
If you find your cat comatose there is no time to lose. Take him to the nearest animal emergency hospital for intravenous glucose and fluids administration, along with other therapies.
Be prepared that cats who survive this syndrome take several days to get back to normal.
Once the emergency is over, the waiting game begins. When will those Beta cells become tired again and quit producing insulin? Days, weeks or months may pass, but relapse will occur. Watch for the signs you observed when your feline friend was first diagnosed: change in appetite (usually increased), weight loss, increased thirst combined with more urine in the litterbox.
That’s the evidence that tells you to call your pet’s doctor for an appointment to begin the regulation process again.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
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2 Comments to “Diabetic Cats Who Stop Being Diabetic”
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Eric makes some good points, but these are the caveats: 1, The information a $20 glucose meter gives you HAS to be taken with a grain of salt. We use an Alpha TRAK and paid about $100 for it. Even it has limitations one needs to understand. For example, extreme readings are often exxagerated so that diabetic people and pet owners will pay attention to those readings. I don’t have any problem with someone testing his cat or dog at home, but he needs to perform the test frequently enough to know what to expect from the meter. Furthermore, a $20 meter isn’t going to give you much reproducability. In other words, if you take ONE blood sample and perform TEN glucose levels on it you will likely get a wide range of readings. IF someone is going to perform blood glucose readings on his pet at home I would suggest investing in the AlphaTRAK. 2, I would limit my testing to a couple of times each week AND ANY time my pet did something different, such as a change in water intake and output, and/or appetite. Testing too often could easily make a pet weary of coming to his owner. 3, Ear thermometers are not very reliable in pets, but if you take your pet’s temperature regularly with it and get reproducible results, what REALLY counts is not the absolute number, but the number you EXPECT or get VARIATION FROM on your individual pet.
Dr. Randolph: We had a cat that went through exactly this scenario, and he almost died due to low blood sugar. Fortunately, we were at home, gave him Karo syrup right away (which we bought along with our insulin – fortunately we did our homework by reading sites like yours!). $600 later and a lot of panic and our cat was out of immediate danger. Here is some additional details that might help other cat parents learn what we did the hard way.
Our cat was on prednisolone for diarrhea, arthritis, and several other troubles. Apparently corticosteroids can complicate diabetes regulation (Dr. Randolph can explain the details of how this works better than me). With our cat Spenser, he went in after experiencing the usual symptoms of high blood sugar. Well, we got it under control using a twice daily dose of insulin per our veterinarian’s recommendation. After about 2 months, Spenser had the aforementioned hypoglycemic episode.
Our advice for any parent of a cat on insulin is ALWAYS test your cat before you inject. [SEE CAVEAT IN DR. RANDOLPH'S RESPONSE, BELOW] You can buy a blood glucose meter that uses a tiny, tiny drop of blood down at your local Wal-Mart or mega retailer for less than $20 or so. The same meter used on people is what my local veterinarian uses – nothing fancy or special required for cats. Learning to prick your cat’s ear is simple and testing is cheap insurance, plus it’s invaluable data for both you and your veterinarian. You can find videos online of how to do this,[SEE CAVEAT IN DR. RANDOLPH'S RESPONSE, BELOW] and with a little practice and training (for both you and your cat) it becomes routine. As Dr. Randolph noted, cats can become diabetic and then go into remission multiple times, and you have to monitor and react accordingly. My opinion is that you really need the kind of regular monitoring you can only do at home to provide proper care. I wish more veterinarians would teach basic techniques like this to help owners and doctors complement each other better. My wife and I are very resourceful and inventive – we suggested all of this to our veterinarian only after learning how they did it. Yes – not everyone can do this, but for those who can it’s a huge advantage in my opinion.
Add a baby scale that weighs your cat in 1 or 1/2 oz increments and an ear thermometer [SEE CAVEAT IN DR. RANDOLPH'S RESPONSE, BELOW] to take a temperature and you have some simple, basic tools to help you and your veterinarian keep a close watch on your pet’s health.