You may see signs of illness, such as vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, breathing difficulties, weakness, and straining to urinate. These symptoms can appear suddenly, over a few days, or over several months. In many cases, cats that have diabetes can be difficult to diagnose because they also have a concurrent illness or disease that can mimic diabetes. Some of these diseases are hyperthyroidism, kidney disease or failure, adrenal gland disease, gastrointestinal disease, cancer, liver disease or failure, and some types of drug treatment. Test results that show a blood-sugar level over 200 indicate the possibility of diabetes.
Diabetic cats have sugar in their urine.
They can also have ketones in their urine, which results from a defective fatty acid metabolism. Cats without diabetes that are under stress may also have some glucose in the urine, but it is temporary. Lipemia, which is increased fat in the blood can be evidence of liver dysfunctions. In addition to sugar and possible ketones, there may be signs of bladder infections. Treatment Insulin injections are still the most accepted means of treating insulin-dependent diabetic cats.