From: fease@dkas.enet.dec.com (Andrea Midtmoen Fease)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Diabetes in cats ???
Date: 1 Sep 92 17:44:39 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Marlboro MA


Hi Thomas,

     I have a diabetic cat; he's 11 and doing very well.  He has 3= units of
NPH Iletin I insulin every morning at 6:00AM and every night at 6:00PM.  He
has an hour's worth of dry W/D in the morning after his shot, and an hour's
worth of canned W/D in the evening after his shot.

     Loki's blood sugar was in the 400's when he was diagnosed; it is now
around 120.  Now that he is stabilized, his weight has increased; it was 15
pounds before he became diabetic, dropped to 12 when we realized that he had
a problem, and is back up to 15 now that he is no longer "starving".

>>> yet does not seem to respond well to insuline ultralente (4 Units in 
>>> the am per 10 lb weight).

     Loki didn't do well at all on the ultralente; in fact, we might as well
have given him water as have given him this stuff.  For Loki, it didn't work;
maybe for other cats it has.

     One weird this is that Loki came down with diabetes about a year ago;
high blood sugar, weight loss, etc.  He went on insulin for about a month,
and then his blood sugar kept dropping and he "cured" himself.  He was fine
for about 6 months.  Then he started with the high blood sugar again, went
on insulin again.  This time, he has remained on the insulin.  My vet has
said that it isn't unusual for cats to regain pancreatic function once or 
even two or three times, and not need the insulin any more.  However, when
the cat goes back on insulin, the dosage and severity is usually increased.
This was true in Loki's case - the first time he was on 2 units once a day,
now he's on 3= units twice a day.  BTW my vet has said that a cat can have 
up to two times his body weight in units each day, and still be okay.  So 
when Loki was 12= pounds, his maximum dosage could have been 25 units a 
day.  He's getting nowhere near that, so his diabetes isn't severe at all.

     We haven't had any problems with diabetic shock (yet), nor have we
had any problems with his shots (except once in a while when I hit a sore 
spot).  Since he's done twice a day, I usually shoot him in his left side
in the morning and his right side in the evening, to try to avoid hitting
a sore spot.  

     Another post talked about the difficulty of getting a urine sample; I
guess I'm lucky with Loki.  I take one of those urine strips and, when he
goes to urinate, just pass it under his stream (I pat his back behind his
tail and he lifts up a little for me 8-) ).  I do this once or twice a week,
so that he doesn't have me going after him every time he urinates ;^) .
This makes it easier on both of us.

     We have two other normal cats, by the way, and it's funny, it's almost
like Loki knows that he can't snack (although he'll occasionally try!).  
Most of the time when we feed the others an evening or afternoon snack, he
just looks with sad eyes but doesn't try to go for it.  Smart kitty!

     It's made our life a little harder, as we cannot leave him for longer 
than 11 hours at a time.  We can't board him, as he refuses to eat at the
vet's, and refusing to eat is one of the worst things a diabetic cat can
do.  We're trying to find a pet-sitting service that can medicate Loki at
home so that we can have a few days away, but if we can't that's okay with
me (my husband's more edgy for time away from home than me ;^) ).  

     Loki's such a doll and has accepted his condition so well, that I 
treasure every day with him.  He's healthy and happy, running around with 
the other cats, playing, getting in his catnip and just enjoying life.  If
I didn't tell you he was diabetic, you'd never know 8-) !!

					- Andrea