Diabetic Cats

Having cared for a diabetic cat for several years, I read the news reports today with great interest. Apparently 1 in 230 - almost 0.5% - of pet cats in the UK are now diabetic. Our cat, Stig, had several bouts of diabetes. At first we injected him with insulin once a day. After about a year, his condition improved and his body started generating insulin normally again. We stopped the injections but after a few months he was diagnosed again with diabetes. This time our vet advised us that current studies suggested that twice daily injections would be better. We went to two injections per day and stayed that way until the end of his life. He was quite happy being injected and although it was difficult to adjust our schedules to make sure we always injected him on time, it was well worth it. He was amazingly cooperative and it brought us closer to him. He lived until a very old age - 19 or 20 - and his death wasn't related to his diabetes. Although he was a very large cat - reaching 20lbs at times - he wasn't anything like the flabby cats you'll see in these news pictures below.

Please don't overfeed your cats! If you can't feel their ribs easily, they are too fat.

• Report at the BBC news site
• Report at the Guardian Unlimited site
• Good info from York Adoption Centre
• Excellent resources at www.felinediabetes.com