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 MEET
SOME OF OUR PATIENTS: “Indigo"
Cats appreciate the finer things in life: there is many a
feline gourmet out there as most cat-owners will testify. Indigo
was one such cat - a veritable Egon Ronay. The dinner-table
was set with three places - one each for his owners and a place
for Indigo! However, like you and I there is usually a price
to pay for over indulgence and Indigo’s owners began to realise
that all was not well. Aside from his spare tyre, they noticed
that he seemed to be a lot thirstier than usual.
A urine sample was obtained (very cleverly) by his owners and
a test with a dipstick was done. It revealed glucose (a sugar)
was present. This shouldn't normally be in cat urine and suspicions
of diabetes were raised. A blood test confirmed the diagnosis.
The pancreas, an organ which lies next to the liver, produces
a hormone called insulin, which regulates the sugar levels within
the body. The pancreas can stop producing the insulin for no
apparent reason or the action of the insulin can be affected
by a cat carrying excess weight. Diabetes in overweight people
is not uncommon and sometimes losing weight combined with a
restricted diet is enough to control the condition. Unfortunately,
in the majority of feline diabetics, it is necessary to introduce
insulin daily by injection to stabilise the patient, and this
usually remains a permanent state of affairs.
The important feature in the control of diabetes is to keep
exercise and food intake the same. The more exercise and food
the patient takes, the higher the blood sugar and the more insulin
needed. We need to know how much insulin to inject into the
cat - too little and the cat becomes hyperglycaemic (high blood
sugar) which will eventually lead to persistent infections,
metabolic disorders, weakness, and coma. Too much and it can
lead to a low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) which if left untreated
rapidly results in weakness, collapse and death.
 Humans
and dogs can be regulated quite well. Both can be made to take
regular controlled exercise and will eat the correct foods at
the correct time. However cats are generally more enigmatic
creatures. They will eat only when and what they want and as
for exercise, controlled or otherwise, what’s that?! It is important
to know the approximate amount of calories taken in and the
amount of calories expended in order to give the correct dose
of insulin. The timing of the insulin injection is also critical.
With animals we try to give a single injection of a long acting
form of insulin which works slowly over a 24 hour period. In
cats this sometimes has to be given every 12 hours.
As well as all this, poor Indigo had to change his diet. A
diet high in fibre and carbohydrate is preferable as it slows
glucose being absorbed in the gut but as anyone who has ever
dieted knows, high fibre foods are not usually the most tasty.
No more Sunday dinners for him! Luckily, he adapted quite well
to a proprietary brand of higher fibre dry food. It was also
important that the timings of his feeds were monitored. Most
of us who have fed cats on a dry diet realise that they prefer
to “graze”; that is to eat little and often throughout the day.
With a diabetic patient, the cat is allowed a quarter of his
daily intake with his insulin injection and then the remaining
three-quarters of his daily ration 8 to 12 hours later.
Insulin is a slow-acting drug, which reaches its maximum effect
several hours after being injected. If Indigo didn’t eat a substantial
amount at this time, he would effectively receive an overdose
and become hypoglycaemic with all its unfortunate side-effects.
The rest of the time he mustn’t be allowed free access to food
as his calorie intake regulates the amount of insulin needed.
To add to all this indignity (and Indigo is nothing if not a
dignified stately gentleman), close monitoring at the clinic
was needed to make sure that the dose of insulin is the correct
one. This meant that Indigo has to visit us on a regular basis
in order for us to take blood samples. We can look at blood
glucose levels which give an indication of how a cat is responding.
Indigo invariably huffs and puffs a little whilst the blood
is being taken but no more. However once he was safely back
inside his basket, and out of range, a paw would shoot out as
the fastenings were tied as if to say “how dare you”. He is
always careful to make sure he is safely fastened up before
he does it, as if to make sure he’s getting the last word!
Caring for a diabetic cat, as you can see, is not the easiest
job in the world but it's usually easier than you think. It
is difficult to regulate diet, exercise and even having the
cat around at the right time. Indigo, however, seems to be progressing
well. His weight has stayed much the same (unfortunately!) as
has his general condition and his eyesight appears as good as
it always was.
 He
has been diabetic for over 4 years now and his owners can take
a lot of credit for caring for a cat with a potentially life-threatening
disease so well. In fact, he recently underwent dental surgery.
Anaesthetising a diabetic can be risky as their feeding and
exercise regimes have to be changed pre- and sometimes post-operatively.
However, Indigo sailed through the whole procedure very well;
we were fairly confident he would eat fairly soon after the
operation, and he didn’t let us down!
We will always have to keep a close eye on him as his diabetes
can make him more prone to other conditions. Fortunately for
Indigo, he doesn’t seem to have read the text books regarding
any of these other conditions and is living a happy and full
life.
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