Cat Diabetes

Hello. My name is Helen. Our family cat, Caesar (a Siamese Cornish Rex) had been healthy for 13 years and was not overweight at 4.5 kilos. (This a a photo of Caesar taken April 2009.)

Around the beginning of June 2011, we noticed that he seemed to be losing weight. His backbone seemed more noticeable and his winter coat did not cover him as it usually did. He kept telling us he was hungry even though we were feeding him a healthy amount of food and he was drinking a lot of water as well as peeing lots.

When the vet weighed Caesar he had lost 1/2 kilo. A blood test showed that his blood sugar level was 475 mg/dl (26.38889 mmol/l)  (this is a measure of how much sugar is in each one-tenth liter of blood; a liter is about a quart). Normal resting blood sugar levels for the cat range between about 50 mg/dl (2.77778 mmol/l) and 120 mg/dl (6.66667 mmol/l).

When Caesar was diagnosed with feline diabetes on Monday July 18th 2011, I was pleased that it wasn’t anything more serious. (Visit What is Feline Diabetes? for detailed information.)

At least it wasn’t kidney disease or over-active thyroid.

But as I searched the internet on how to take care of Caesar, I was unable to find information on how to care for him without using medication.

I wanted to know what to feed him.

How often to feed him (he has changed from a cat that nibbles food to a cat that gobbles food and continually asks for his food bowl to be filled).

As he was peeing a lot into his litter tray it required changing daily – what other options do I have as it is winter time here in New Zealand.

Due to knowledge from creating a website called Healthy Aging Resources I was aware that it is possible to reverse diabetes in humans (Simply Raw: reversing diabetes in Thirty Days), but what about diabetes in cats?

I want to avoid giving Caesar insulin injections. This is the start of my journey of discovery and I hope that it will help other cat owners prevent, reverse and care for cats with feline diabetes.