Feline Diabetes Update

A while back I wrote a post about our Cat Thor who has diabetes.  One day he started drinking lots of water and his pees in the litter were huge.  This was a concern and the vet confirmed he had diabetes.  His levels were 26 mmol which is really really high.  We got the news that we would have to give him two needles a day and switch him to the vet recommended food.  I cried as I really love this sucky cat, but decided to do the needles and see how it goes. 

After months of needles and special food, we would poke him for blood readings.  This failed more often than was successful, but it was evident he was still very high.  I did some reading and found many people had good results with very high protien or raw food diets with cats.  The recommended low carb food from the vet did nothing.

So I went to a local pet store and got some samples and some great information from the owners who obviously love animals.  We switched the cats to a dry food that is smoked venison and vegetables, and has no carbs.  After a short time we noticed Thor's coat was getting better, thicker and softer.  His pee clumps were reducing to normal.  His glucose tests showed his levels going down.  The trick with this is to be very careful not to let him get too low as he can have a hypoglycemia and go into a coma.  Brad had a story of his cat that came close one time.

Well, we are very happy that for the last week now he has not had a single needle.  We tested him tonight after he ate and he was 5.6 mmol - this is perfect!!!  That is really a great reading and hopefully will continue. 

So no matter what the problem its good to educate yourself as best you can and not just think the vets know everything.  They had the concepts right, but still didn't know the alternatives to the few food products that they endorse.