Question:
We have just found out that our cat has diabetes and decided to see
if there was a website that could help. Although we have spoken to the
vet, we feel that it is better to obtain information from others with the
same problem. Is there anyone out there who can advise us, for example we
have to rush home from work to make sure she is fed at the same time every
day. How do you overcome this? What about holiday times when a friend has
to feed her? Also we have been told to give her a sugar solution if she
goes hypo. What proportion of sugar do you put to water? Is trembling and
weak legs a symptom of a hypoglycaemic attack?
Answer:
We had a 15 year old diabetic cat and after stabilizing him with 2 shots a
day of insulin he lead a normal life. Our vet recommended to make him as
comfortable as possible and he maintained a high quality of life for a year
& half.
Our vets diet change recommendation was a low fat senior diet and not to
change his feeding routine. The shots were given 2 times a day at the same
time each day, which is very important and if deviated from can cause a
hypoglycemic attack. What is this? Our experience was our cat would
stagger, kept his head low and swayed his head back and forth. He would
stare into space. The episode lasted 15 to 20 minutes.
In addition to the daily dose's of insulin we had to check his glucose level
once a week by running a glucose testing strip through his urine 3 times a week.
When we traveled we hired one of the vet technicians that worked for our vet
to come to our home 2 times a day to give him the insulin shots. We never
had any problems or worries as we knew that the vet tech was qualified to
give the shots and understood the proper dosage.
