by Betty Wedman-St. Louis
Includes photo of Chrissy the cat.
Diabetes doesn't just strike humans. It is a metabolic disorder that can affect pet members of your family, and it can be just as life-threatening to them. Two years ago, I began noticing the classic symptoms of diabetes in my cat, Chrissy, but I didn't react to them, because who ever heard of diabetes in cats! The empty water bowl just meant that she was more thirsty, or maybe I had forgotten to fill it before leaving for work. The extra use of the litter box was shrugged off because "all that water had to come out." Lethargy was just a sign of her aging, or boredom.
All during this time Chrissy, a beautiful long haired, silver and white Persian, would leave me "messages" on the bed where I slept. The urine pools that soaked through the bedspread, blankets, and sheets got pretty annoying, and I would punish her for them. The vet assured me this was probably "a behavior problem."
Then one day I asked myself why would a beautiful, well groomed, smart cat, with no competition for love and attention, have such a behavior problem? The next time there was an accident on the bed, we headed straight for the vet's office.
Chrissy's blood glucose was 471. Her cholesterol was 238 (normal = 70 to 180), triglycerides 122 (normal = 18 to 115), and protein 1+ on urinalysis. Those results looked like those of many newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes cases I see in my work as a diabetes educator. Oral medication was not an option, the vet said, so we began a regime of intermediate-acting insulin twice a day. It took a lot of brushing and reassurance to establish a routine of insulin administration, without lots of hissing and growling.
Within four months, a random blood glucose test was 201, and Chrissy's hyperlipidemia was history. But within three weeks, we were in the vet emergency room with anorexia, lethargy, and abnormal liver function. X-rays and a CAT scan indicated an enlarged fatty liver, possibly caused from neoplasm/tumor cell growth. Weekly antibiotic therapy was initiated when I would not agree to "put her out of her misery." Through a combination of traditional and alternative medicine, Chrissy made a remarkable recovery--dropping her liver ALT from 2839 on August 27, to 158 by September 21!
Regular monthly visits to the vet continued, despite Chrissy's protesting-just like many humans. Every time she saw the carrier container come out, she'd hide in the bath tub. But, the vet failed to advise me of a doubling of her creatinine, and marked elevation of her amylase on November 6. We were too impressed with her liver enzyme improvement, and the management of her blood glucose. Consequently, by December 24, Chrissy was a very sick cat. By January 3, with a creatinine of 11.6, BUN 207, and blood glucose of 481, I was again told to consider euthanasia.
Knowing Chrissy was a fighter and wanted to live, we began a seven day regime of antibiotics, and lots of love. Her creatinine dropped to 4.6 within eight weeks, and she started regaining her weight. By May, Chrissy's creatinine was stable at 3.1 to 3.9, and her blood glucose at 180 to 205.
Knowledge about cat nutrition has helped us maintain Chrissy's well-being. Like many humans, she takes vitamin supplements fortified with the antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid. Since cats do not convert beta carotene to Vitamin A (like many humans who have hypothyroidism), her supplement drops contain all the fat soluble alphabet (Vitamins A, D, E, K) needed for immune health. Also, cats, unlike humans, do not convert ultraviolet rays into Vitamin D when they are in the sun, so a supplement with a significant amount of Vitamin D was selected. Taurine is also a critical amino acid for feline well-being, so a capsule is added to Chrissy's wet food daily.
Today, Chrissy still takes her insulin injections twice a day, but at a much reduced dose, since her hypoglycemic episode in June. Like many type 2 diabetes patients, too much insulin caused excessive hunger, and weight gain. Once I cut back on her insulin, a normal weight was achieved with no further evidence of hyperlipidemia.
What is the lesson? Education is the answer. Once we learned what was really going on, and paid attention to all the test results, we were able to save my cat, and restore her to good health.
If you or a friend would like to remember the Diabetes Action Network of the National Federation of the Blind in your will, you can do so by employing the following language:
"I give, devise, and bequeath unto the Diabetes Action Network of the National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230, a District of Columbia nonprofit corporation, the sum of $_____" (or "_______percent of my net estate" or "the following stocks and bonds:________") to be used for its worthy purposes on behalf of blind persons.