Curing Diabetic Cats with Purina DM and Glargine Insulin

I went on a house call to put an old, debilitated dog to sleep, and as often is the case, we started talking about their other pets. They had a second dog and 2 other cats and all their pets were significantly overweight. The husband agreed there was a weight problem, but his wife didn’t want to deprive her pets. (Luckily, she had left the room as we continued our conversation.) Mr. Bedrow told me that one of his cats was diabetic, and they were giving him insulin shots every 12 hours. When I asked about special diet, feeding schedule and anything else the vet had recommended (because often with proper management, we can eliminate the need for insulin in these cats), I was quite surprised to hear that there were no other instructions. Both cats ate the same dry grocery store (name brand) food, and the food sat out all day every day.

“Did you know that most diabetic cats can be weaned off of insulin with scheduled and limited feeding of special (prescription) diets for feline diabetes and a human type of insulin. We can cure these diabetic cats."

His eyes widened as he responded, “I had no idea but I doubt we could get my wife to cooperate, but tell me more.”  

I first explained that we used to treat diabetic cats like they were little dogs. We used high fiber diets (just like we prescribed for dogs); some of the cats stabilized but none lost their need for insulin. “Then we started treating them like they were cats. We went to high protein, moderate fat with very low carb diets. After a thorough evaluation to rule out any other problems, I recommend limit feeding Purina DM (prescription diet for diabetes) diet (mix a small amount of this with the cat’s regular diet and slowly increase the new diet as you decrease the old). Your cat’s daily amount of food should be divided into at least 2 meals. If he needs to begin insulin injections (and most do), the feeding intervals are coordinated with the injections so that he is fed as the blood sugar begins to drop. Initially simply a change in diet and careful limit feeding (the goal is an ideal weight) can be attempted to “cure” the diabetes, but I wouldn’t wait longer than a week before adding insulin into the picture because the longer cats remain untreated the more likely they are to start having complications from their diabetes and the more difficult it can be to ultimately wean them off of insulin. Glargine insulin is the most effective for eliminating the need for daily injections. The bottom line is when you combine a careful feeding management (optimal diet, quantity and schedule) program with the appropriate type of insulin, most cats can be weaned off of insulin.  Work with a veterinarian who not only wants to manage your cat’s diabetes, but also wants to eliminate the need for continued insulin injections. He can even make suggestions for monitoring your cat’s sugar at home to reduce the number of office visits.

I need to stress that almost all diabetic cats (and dogs) have type 2 diabetes, and this is the result of how we feed our pets. Too many people believe that if pet food is left out, cats will not over eat. That is simply not true. In other blogs I will write about the other important reasons to limit feed our cats (and dogs).

For all you ever wanted to know about treating your cat for diabetes follow this link http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felinediabetes. I don’t necessarily agree with everything the author says (especially when she discusses appropriate diets), but she certainly provides a lot of valuable information.

Send me any questions or comments you might have!