Tips on How to Prevent Feline Diabetes

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Diabetes is when a living being is no longer capable of producing enough insulin to balance the level of sugar that can be found in their blood. As a result, cats are perfectly capable of getting diabetes. In fact, more and more cats are getting diabetes, which is perhaps unsurprising when one realizes that more than 50 percent of pet cats are either obese or overweight. Regardless, diabetes is a serious problem for cats because it results in unpleasant symptoms such as loss of appetite, loss of weight, and motor function problems. Moreover, it is possible for diabetes in cats to result in death, meaning that cat owners need to treat the problem with total seriousness. Here are some suggestions that can be used to prevent cats from getting diabetes:

Keep the Cat’s Weight Under Control

First and foremost, the cat being overweight is one of the biggest risk factors for diabetes. Cats with healthy weights are capable of getting diabetes as well, but their chances are much lower than those of their overweight counterparts. This problem is particularly important because the numbers suggest that a lot of cat owners don’t see overweight cats as being something that they need to be worried about, which is rather unfortunate because that is very much incorrect. Fortunately, there are various things that cat owners can do to help their cats fight off the pounds. One example would be spending more time playing with their cats, which should help them burn more energy by moving around more. Another example would be offering their cats cat trees as well as similar amenities that can encourage them to move about on their own. Of course, helping cats keep a healthy weight is particularly important because it can lower the chances of a wide range of other serious medical problems as well, thus making for a much healthier cat in the long run.

Feed Cats the Right Cat Food

Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning that they have very particular dietary requirements. If they are eating the right foods, they are not going to be able to get all of the nutrients that they need to maintain a state of optimal health, thus increasing the chances for all sorts of serious medical problems to pop up. Due to this, interested individuals should contact their veterinarians sooner rather than later about the exact dietary requirements of their pet cats, which should empower them to make the right choices for their cats’ long-term health.

Get Regular Checkups

Speaking of which, it can be very helpful to bring cats to the veterinarian for regular checkups. Primarily, this is because regular checkups should enable a specialist to pick up on potential problems in the cat so that they can be addressed as soon as possible. Something that should minimize potential complications and lower total medical costs. Some procedures that are particularly useful for people who are concerned about diabetes in their cats are blood and urine screenings, which are important even if their cats are not particularly susceptible to that particular problem. In the end, when all has been said and done, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, which is as true for cats as it is for humans.

Be Careful about the Use of Steroids

Steroids are used to treat a number of cat problems. For example, they see use in treating both allergies and asthma. Likewise, they see use in treating inflammatory bowel disease. However, while the use of steroids can be critical for protecting a cat’s health, interested individuals should nonetheless exercise care and caution when using them because they can reduce the effectiveness of the insulin that they produce. Generally speaking, the best approach for cat owners is to consult their veterinarians about their cat’s medical problems as well as whatever medications that are being used. This way, interested individuals can get a professional’s opinion about what they should and shouldn’t do while also getting monitoring for their cat’s well-being so that they can make necessary changes if they ever notice some kind of problem showing up. It is always a good idea to check before giving cats any kind of medication because they can have effects that are unpredictable by non-specialists, meaning that it is better to be safe than sorry.