Insulin Doesn’t Appear To Be Reducing Their Diabetic Cat’s Sugar Levels

I read an interesting thread where a distressed owner stated that insulin doesn’t appear to be reducing their cat’s sugar levels and the vet is asking them to seriously consider putting the cat down!

Well let’s examine what could be going on here. The cat is 14 years old and four months ago was diagnosed with feline diabetes. The cat was put on 1 unit of insulin twice a day. After a week they went for a checkup and the blood sugar levels were in the 500s. So the dosage was raised. This occurred a few more times until the cat is now on a 7 units dose and the blood sugar level is still in the 300s to 400s.

Firstly, the owner really does need to get a home testing kit so that the blood sugars can be tested more regularly and also tested in an environment that the cat is comfortable with. Stress can result in a peak in blood sugar levels and this may be what has been happening to this cat every time it is taken to the veterinary surgeon. You can easily learn how to test your cats blood sugar levels at home

Here is a link to the thread: –

Insulin doesn’t appear to be reducing their diabetic cat’s sugar levels 

Having a clearer idea of sugar levels should leads to a more accurate dose. Also variations in dosages should be done gradually, maybe in quarter unit increments.

The owner also mentions that the cat is on a wet diet. But is the wet diet a low carbohydrate diet?? Gravy especially could be high in carbohydrates. I wonder whether the cats diet was changed when it was diagnosed with feline diabetes. It doesn’t appear to have been. I also noticed that the owner is still also offering a plate of dry food!

I’ve said it before a million times, the best diet is always what a cat would naturally eat in the wild but failing that every owner needs to ensure that the diet they give to their cat is low in carbohydrates, as cats were never designed to be big carbohydrate eaters. So my opinion is to stay away from dry food even if your vet recommends it!!

Switching to a low carbohydrate diet should see an immediate decrease in blood sugar levels which makes it even more important to be able to test your cats blood sugar levels at home. Because as the blood sugar levels decrease so will the need for insulin. This can be quite dramatic, so be aware!

There could be a particular problem with the cat not accepting this type of insulin. So if all else  fails maybe worthwhile changing insulin types.

Lastly there may be another illness here that is causing this problem. But in all honesty if insulin doesn’t appear to be reducing their diabetic cat’s sugar levels then I think diet is the main culprit. Don’t be influenced by the glossy and professional adverts advertising science diets and 99 cats out of 100 prefer it type diets, stick as much as possible to a natural diet low in carbohydrates.