diabetic cat????

Please can someone help! we have a thirteen yr old cat who we all adore but recently he has become very thin, the vet said he may have diabetis so gave me some special dry food (expensive) but he is still losing weight he used to be so big (not overweight), also a big ginger and white cat keeps attacking him! He just seems so tired all t time please can someone throw some tips as too what we can do. to make him feel better, even the dog is worried they spend a lot of time togeather usually scrounging for any tip bits (bless)
regards
wessy's family

Did the vet take any blood? That is the very first step and I would reccomend getting done ASAP. Diabetes usually affects older cats that are overweight, and male cat are really suceptible. The common sogns are drinking alot, peeing alot and rapid weight loss. In older cats there is also Hyperthroidism in which a cat is hungry all the time and is still losing weight. The last big one in cats is Renal insufficiency (kidney disease), in which the cat is loosing weight because it is not eating or eating very little and vomitting. All of these things are detected through a blood sample, and the sooner they are caught the easier it is to slow the progression of the disease and make the kitty feel better.

You really need to have blood work done on your kitty to help determine what can be done to make him feel better. For diabetes, there are medications as well as special food. For hyperthyroidism there are medications, surgery, or radioiodine therapy. For renal failure, there are other treatments, like fluids and phosphorus. In order to know which treatment will help your kitty, your vet will need to run blood tests to see what is wrong.

I will third the get blood work... many "senior issues are very treatable but you need to know what is wrong and what stage your at

May I also suggest it is time to let your older boy be an inside only kitty? So he doesn't have to be attacked?

Originally Posted by wessy

Please can someone help! we have a thirteen yr old cat who we all adore but recently he has become very thin, the vet said he may have diabetis so gave me some special dry food (expensive) but he is still losing weight he used to be so big (not overweight), also a big ginger and white cat keeps attacking him! He just seems so tired all t time please can someone throw some tips as too what we can do. to make him feel better, even the dog is worried they spend a lot of time togeather usually scrounging for any tip bits (bless)
regards
wessy's family

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Thankyou for all your help I will take him back to the vets with your comments, he is always hungry and still losing weight so I tink it might be Hyperthroidism which i shall mention, once again thankyou!

Good luck, the bloodwork is the first step to helping Wessy feel better.

Diabetes is pretty easy to deal with, it's rarely a death sentance and once the treatment is started the cat feels and acts much happier!

I had a neutered male who developed diabetes at 14- we found out because he was declining and losing weight, we took him to the vet and he was so mad he pissed on her table- literaly pissed off! The vet went "this looks a funny color!" DId a quick test and BAM- we knew. He got twice daily injections of insulin, while he was distracted eating his wet food.

He lived for at least 4 more years till he got cancer of the jaw and couldn't eat anything. He was a grand cat, very happy with his life, king of the roost till the end.

I cant believe they didnt do blood work right away. My cat died of diabetes, only because we found out too late. we just lost a cat at the shelter from that but he had been on med. for a couple years and they switched him to the shot and he couldnt take it anymore.
If caught early enough your cat should come out fine. Good luck. I know its hard to see them sick