How Long Can cats live with diabetes?

Can a diabetic cat live a normal life?

Proper diabetes care for a cat allows many patients to lead normal lives. There are certainly exceptions, and some diabetic cats have many problems. No two diabetics are the same. If the illness is caught early, a diabetic cat will stop drinking tons of water, have a normal amount of energy and lead a happy life.

What happens if a cat’s diabetes is left untreated?

Serious complications can develop if your cat’s diabetes is left untreated, causing a decrease in his quality of life and even an early death. As his condition worsens, his symptoms may evolve into ketoacidosis, marked by a loss of appetite, dehydration and lethargy.

What are the good things about having a diabetic cat?

Here are some of the many good things about having a diabetic cat these days: 1. Diabetes in a cat is a treatable disease. A diagnosis of diabetes means your cat can get treatment.

Is it common for cats to get diabetes?

Diabetes occurs less frequently in cats than in dogs. However, when it does occur, feline diabetes can be more difficult to regulate. When a diabetic cat ingests glucose and can’t process it properly, it leads to the build up of sugars in the blood stream.

What is the life expectancy of cats with diabetes?

The life expectancy of cats with diabetes varies depending on the specifics of their situation. For a cat that is otherwise in good health, diabetes that is well-regulated may not shorten their life. However, some cats are more difficult to regulate or have an interfering disease, so their prognosis may be different depending on the illness.

Can cats get diabetics?

Diabetes, a common condition for humans, is also relatively common in domestic animals like cats. Type I diabetes (insulin dependent diabetes mellitus – IDDM) occurs when the body is completely unable to manufacture insulin.

Can a cat with diabetes be cured?

While, diabetes is a serious condition, if diagnosed and treated quickly, your cats diabetes can be controlled through diet and activity levels. Even if your cat is suffering from a more difficult stage of diabetes, you can treat your cat with daily injections, much as humans with diabetes.

Is it possible for a cat to have diabetes without treatment?

Symptoms of Untreated Diabetes in Cats. While, diabetes is a serious condition, if diagnosed and treated quickly, your cats diabetes can be controlled through diet and activity levels. Even if your cat is suffering from a more difficult stage of diabetes, you can treat your cat with daily injections, much as humans with diabetes.

What happens if a type 2 diabetic cat is left untreated?

In type-2 cats, prompt effective treatment may lead to diabetic remission, in which the cat no longer needs injected insulin. Untreated, the condition leads to increasingly weak legs in cats, and eventually malnutrition, ketoacidosis and/or dehydration, and death.

What are the symptoms of end-stage diabetes in cats?

If left untreated, your cat can experience end-stage diabetes symptoms. These symptoms include: If your cat is experiencing rapid breathing, vomiting or loss of consciousness you need to take your cat to an emergency animal hospital immediately. Do not try to treat your cat in any way.

What does it mean when a cat has diabetes?

Feline diabetes is an endocrine disorder in which the pancreas fails to produce enough of the hormone insulin. The result is chronically high blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and a whole host of related symptoms. Diabetes in cats is a very serious condition, but it is also very manageable.

How can I prevent my cat from getting diabetes?

Koble recommends pet parents pay close attention to diet and exercise. “The two best things any cat parent can help do to protect from diabetes would be to feed the highest quality canned, low-carb or raw diet that is possible,” she says. “The second critical thing to help prevent diabetes is to get your cat moving.

Can a 10 year old cat get diabetes?

At greatest risk are neutered male cats over 10 years of age and over 15 pounds in weight. One possible reason that diabetes is more common in old cats is that, quite simply, they have been exposed to potential causes longer. How can I prevent diabetes in my older cats?

How common is diabetes mellitus in cats?

Diabetes mellitus is less common in cats than in dogs. 80-95% of diabetic cats experience something similar to type-2 diabetes, but are generally severely insulin-dependent by the time symptoms are diagnosed. The condition is treatable, and treated properly, the cat can experience a normal life expectancy.

Is diabetes a death sentence for a cat?

A diabetes diagnosis is not a death sentence for your cat. Most diabetic cats who receive proper veterinary care and good quality home treatment enjoy essentially normal lives, their longevity the same as non-diabetic cats. He’ll have a shortened life as a direct result of diabetes only if you fail to manage the diabetes properly.

What is feline diabetes mellitus?

Thomas Graves and WebMD team up to provide feline diabetes information and tips for treatment or prevention. An alarming number of cats are developing diabetes mellitus, which is the inability to produce enough insulin to balance blood sugar, or glucose, levels .

How does diabetes affect cats differently than humans?

Cats aren’t so different from people when it comes to diabetes. The disease affects insulin — a hormone that helps the body move sugar (glucose) from the bloodstream into the cells. Feline diabetes tends to more closely resemble type 2 diabetes in humans, in which the body makes insulin but becomes less sensitive to the hormone.

What happens if a diabetic cat is left untreated?

If it’s left untreated, eventually diabetes can lead to life-threatening complications. Although the exact cause of feline diabetes isn’t known, it’s more likely to affect overweight cats, because obesity makes the cat’s body less sensitive to the effects of insulin.

Do cats with diabetes need insulin injections?

Cats with diabetes need constant attention. They eat a special low carbohydrate diet to reduce the amount of glucose in the body. Even so, most cats require insulin injections twice daily to keep blood glucose in check.

Can a cat with mild diabetes go into remission?

Cats that are diagnosed early in the course of the disease while the disease is still mild are more likely to undergo remission than those that have been struggling with diabetes for some time without treatment. 2 In a normal cat, the pancreas is responsible for secreting insulin in response to rising blood glucose (blood sugar) levels.

How to treat feline diabetes?

How to Treat Feline Diabetes 1 Treat underlying conditions. 2 Put your cat on a diet. 3 Feed your cat in the right way. 4 Get your cat stabilized. 5 Handle the medicine in the right way. 6 … (more items)

Is there a natural way to treat diabetes in cats?

“Some diabetic cats can be managed on a low-carb food alone, without insulin,” says Koble. ”This is the only ‘natural’ treatment that sometimes works by itself. Many cats need a combination of a low-carb food and insulin.” Most veterinarians agree that natural supplements that tout diabetes remedies don’t…