Diabetic Young Cat (Maybe)

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thebitbucket@comcast.net - 08 Mar 2006 17:52 GMT

I noticed my 2 year old cat was drinking what I thought was a lot of
water (about 1 cup/day). She otherwise seemed fine. Eating OK, no
excess urine, happy. I made an appt. with our vet and she did a serum
(blood) glucose and urine test. She had a 243 on the serum glucose and
glucose spill into her urine. suggested Purina DM which we started
immediately. I should mention that she had breakfast 2 hours prior to
the vet visit.The vet.

2 days later I had her see a specialist (an internist) who suggested a
fasting glucose. We did that and it came back 130 with no glucose in
the urine. This vet said body mass and muscle tone was excellent,
weight was fine and that she did not think the cat was diabetic. But
she say that DM food was very good and we should continue using it.
She said there was a "frutosamine" (sp?) test but she did not think it
was necessary. She also suggested we can check for sugar in the urine
with a test strip.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Is she diabetic and the new diet
helped? Is she not diabetic and we should "move on"? Should we order
more tests?

Thanks for any advice and/or experience.

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Elizabeth Blake - 08 Mar 2006 23:13 GMT

> 2 days later I had her see a specialist (an internist) who suggested a
> fasting glucose. We did that and it came back 130 with no glucose in
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Thanks for any advice and/or experience.

I have no experience with diabetic cats, although I am diabetic myself. The
lower fasting number might be because of the change in diet, but could still
mean she's diabetic. I'm not sure what the num,ber range is for cats but
for humans I think it's now 126 (anything over is considered diabetic). The
fructosamine test is, I think, something like a hemoglobin A1c test. It
will give you an idea of her average blood glucose over a period of time.
The A1c is an average of 3 months, and the fructosamine is an average of a
shorter period but I don't remember how long. If her fasting level was okay
but the test came back with a high number, it could very well mean diabetes.

--
Liz

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thebitbucket@comcast.net - 09 Mar 2006 05:01 GMT

Liz,

My vet's range for a cat is 100-170. Cats tend to run high when
stressed. The 130 seems OK to me (and my vet too).

Reply to this Message

thebitbucket@comcast.net - 09 Mar 2006 05:01 GMT

Liz,

My vet's range for a cat is 100-170. Cats tend to run high when
stressed. The 130 seems OK to me (and my vet too).

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Rhonda - 09 Mar 2006 05:34 GMT

Hi Liz,

130 seems high to me for a fasting number. What did they say a normal
fasting rate should be?

Our cat measured over 200 when in the vet's office the first time, but
she still wasn't sure it was diabetes. She sent the sample off to a lab
where the number came back over 400 on the same sample. He was
definitely diabetic.

Doing a curve is really a better way to check the glucose. I think it's
done over 6 hours or so. You can also test at home to get a more
accurate reading -- and it's fairly inexpensive. You have to prick your
cat's ear for a sample.

A place full of diabetic kitty experts is the message board at
www.felinediabetes.com. Post your question there and you'll get answers
from people with tons of experience. I would always go there with
questions and 5-6 people would answer almost right away and more later!

Good luck with your cat.

Rhonda

> Liz,
>
> My vet's range for a cat is 100-170. Cats tend to run high when
> stressed. The 130 seems OK to me (and my vet too).

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