I have a cat that is type1. In doing some research I found this and several articles like this…Oh to be a cat !
Clinical Remission of Diabetes Mellitus in CatsIn diabetic cats the likely remission rate if you control diet and administer insulin may be as much as 60-70%.
Diabetic cats that go into diabetic clinical remission have remaining functional beta cells in the pancreatic islets which are able to produce sufficient insulin once persistent hyperglycaemia, which results in glucose toxicity, is treated adequately with insulin.
The time to remission is variable and likely depends on how long the hyperglycaemia, and glucose toxicity, has been present and if there are remaining functional beta cells in the pancreatic islets. In diabetic cats it may be shortly after the start of treatment (e.g. around 2 weeks) in cats that have not been diabetic for long or take up to 3-4 months or longer after starting treatment in cats that have been diabetic for longer.
Although many diabetic cats that go into clinical remission seem to remain in remission it is important to remember that remission does not necessarily mean cure. Care with diet and exercise and avoidance of aggravating factors (progesterone, progestogens, corticosteroids, obesity, etc.) are important.
Someone once told me that cats usually get the equivalent of Type 2 diabetes and dogs get Type 1. A friend of mine had a very small, young, healthy female cat diagnosed several years ago. She passed away soon after. They were constantly rushing her to the all-night emergency clinic or taking her to their regular vet who I HATE ( I brought my cats to him for awhile). It seems that Niamh (the cat) was always crashing - low BG. I have a feeling she may have been one of the cats who could have been okay with a change in diet. At the time they were feeding all of their cats wet & dry food, and often left dry food out for grazing. Niamh was a petite cat, though, and did not overeat.
Last year their older female cat, also very tiny/skinny, was diagnosed. She had the opposite problem because her BG was always extremely high. I convinced them to change the food they were feeding and to eliminate dry food. I also, finally, convinced them to go to another vet and to test kaylee’s blood sugar at home.
I know that they no longer do regular BG checks, only if Kaylee seems “off”. When I catsit, I always test her and her numbers are always high. She’s on Lantus twice a day and the last time I watched the cats I upped her dose because seeing her in the 400-500 range was making me cry. I got her average down by more than 100 points but didn’t have enough time to tweak any more before they came back from vacation. I told them what I did and told thenm they should really check her BG, at least a few times a week if not every day.
The poor cat screams for food and eats everything put before her. Before diagnosis she was very picky and seemed to live on air, weighed about 6 pounds her whole life. She has actually put on a little weight and almost feels like a normal cat, but her numbers are still too high and I know her appetite is caused by that.
She’s so much better about getting her ear poked for the BG test than getting her injections.
