Diabetic Complications

Your pet will not die immediately from a blood sugar that is too high;  a blood sugar that gets too low can kill.  When in doubt (diabetic pet is not eating, is vomiting, or is not acting quite right) do not give next dose of insulin. 

If you give insulin and your pet seems groggy or dazed, assume their blood sugar is getting too low and given honey, Karo syrup or sugar water....and call for advice.  Many times, much more care will be needed to get them out of danger and one needs to figure out why their sugar levels got low.

Diabetes may be secondary to pancreas problems (such as pancreatitis) and can be associated with complications such as infection, liver disease and other endocrine problems (such as Cushing's disease). 

Uncontrolled diabetes can escalate to ketoacidosis, which can rapidly escalate to life threatening proportion and requires hospitalized care. 

Management of diabetes in harder in cats than dogs, is never as 'tightly controlled' as it is in people and involves diet, insulin (in most cases) and certain medications. 

Monitoring involves doing insulin response curves and checking fructosamine levels;  these things are most often done with your primary care veterinarian.

It is important to realize that every patient metabolizes insulin differently and that there are many types of insulin.  Getting just the right long term treatment plan can involve time and some trial and error.

Diabetes mellitus ("sugar diabetes") is not the same as diabetes insipidus ("water diabetes").

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