Monitoring Diabetic Cats

For Cat Specialist Services patients please click here to find our diabetic cat diary.

For diabetic cats, day to day routines, feeding (e.g. type of food, frequency and amount) and activity should be kept stable. This may help reduce the number of insulin adjustments needed. Once a diabetic patient is stable, insulin adjustments are often less frequent.

Remember - only change insulin requirements after consultation with us or your referring veterinarian.

Monitoring your cat's thirst, appetite and body weight at home help us to assess their response to treatment. It helps to keep a daily record of the following:

• The time and amount of insulin given
• The type and amount of food eaten and your cat's overall appetite (ie keen to eat, reluctant to eat)
• Your cat's overall energy levels and demeanour (i.e. bright and happy or depressed and lethargic)
• Daily water intake
  • The easiest way to do this is to measure the volume of water put out each day and what is left. If you have multiple animals, monitoring the daily amount of water drunk by all the animals in the household may still identify if one of the animals is drinking more (which suggests poor diabetic control). 
• Body weight
  • Weighing your cat weekly
  • You can weigh your cat in their cat box to help keep them still on the scales.
  • Unless you are trying to get your obese diabetic cat to lose weight, ongoing weight loss tends to suggest poor diabetic control.
• Urination
  • Urine production
  • This can be difficult to measure objectively at home, but if you notice your cat visiting the litter tray more frequently, then this can be a sign of poor diabetic control or possible urinary tract infection.
• Urine glucose and ketones
  • We may suggest checking home caught urine samples for glucose or ketones using simple urine dipstick tests. These help us evaluate diabetic stability.
  • Please see the following videos on how to obtain a urine sample and how to  perform a urine dipstick.
  • Urine dipsticks can be purchased HERE
• Record any other different symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation.

Contact your vets if you find ketones in your cat's urine as this suggests poor diabetic control. Insulin dosing changes should not be based on urine testing. Always contact your vets before changing insulin doses. 

ONLY CHANGE YOUR CAT'S INSULIN DOSAGE AFTER DISCUSSION WITH YOUR VETS.