If your pet cat has an underlying condition like diabetes, and if the cat hasn’t been treated for it in a long time, then there really is no time like the present to take it to the vet. Some cat owners may prefer to wait till the yearly checkup. However, not treating fast enough for feline diabetes can be life threatening for the cats, especially if it has been diagnosed since a few years.
Here are a few tips to help loving cat owners manage feline diabetes:
1. Wellness checkups
Diabetes is a serious health issue not just for human beings but for animals as well. In fact, 1 in 200 cats will become diabetic at some point in life. Even sadder is the fact that this number has been increasing at an enormous rate in the past five years or so. Fortunately, there are a lot of information that you can get equipped with to keep your cat healthy and well. One thing to do is to have a good working relationship with your cat’s veterinarian, so instead of taking the cat to the clinic once a year, try twice or thrice per year to keep its chart up-to-date. If the cat is feeling good and nothing seems to be amiss, there is no need to panic. However, if your cat has already developed diabetes, you need to know what tools can be used to manage the condition and how to avoid potential complications in the future.
2. Weight loss
While most diabetic conditions in cats are due to breed predisposition, cat obesity can play a crucial role in its origin. There are many things you can do to prevent diabetes in cats beside the prescribed insulin shots. First and foremost, you can help your cat maintain an ideal body weight, muscle mass and body fat through regular checkups, medications and exercise. More important than what the cat will lose is what it will set to gain in the end. Once you have designated the vet and got your routine in gear, record every detail of your cat – its weight, body mass index, target weight, day to day activities, food intake and so on – in a dairy as a preliminary step to managing and curing diabetes.
3. Nutritious diet
It is also important to make sure that your cat’s diet closely matches with food items that the breed is known to handle and digest without side effects. This diet typically contains high protein and low carbohydrates. Feeding your cat with dry cat food that contains low amount of protein is a good recipe for diabetes, even kidney failure and urinary tract issues. So, make sure that the right diet is chosen day in and day out.
4. Management plan
You may want to get on the above advice immediately in order to see positive results with your cat’s health. Once your cat has reached a target weight, eating well and being active, you may consider adopting the maintenance mode. It’s worth carving out a health management plan for your pet early on to prevent disaster later in life.
