My cat has diabetes, but insulin isn't working. What's wrong?

Please try to bring her appointment forward to get her rechecked and her blood sugar levels controlled more effectively if possible. It may be necessary to change her insulin type but she should also be checked for infections/inflammation etc which may be altering her ability to regulate her condition

Blood in the urine would not be caused by his insulin, so don't worry :) It's likely that he has a UTI, as these are extremely common in diabetic cats. If he's acting normal otherwise, I wouldn't consider this an emergency - but I would definitely recommend calling Meatball's regular vet in the morning or taking him in for an exam. You should continue on his regular insulin dosing schedule as directed by your veterinarian unless he/she instructs you differently.

Hi there and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If glucose was high on blood work and glucose is also present in the urine, then this is a diagnosis of diabetes. Insulin should begin as soon as possible when a diabetic is first diagnosed. Unless the patient is really ill or unstable, one or two day delay for insulin should be okay. A 12 hour glucose curve at the hospital should be run with the insulin Bella will be on for her first day of insulin treatment so the proper dose can be calculated and to make sure Bella does not have any negative reactions to the insulin or become hypoglycemic at any point. I hope this helps!

I'm so sorry to hear that Shady is not doing well. Diabetes can be difficult to regulate initially. I have attached a link to a good article for ideas on cats that are difficult to regulate below. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=&A=1605&SourceID= That may give you some ideas to discuss with your vet. I would also look at Shady's diet. I have a very difficult time controlling diabetic cats on a dry food diet and find that they do much better on a canned food diet with higher protein. Here is a link to a website that discusses that and gives lots of good information on managing diabetes in cats. http://binkyspage.tripod.com/index.html I know it can be difficult to get a diabetic cat regulated, but don't get discouraged. Everyone once in a while if I have made all the changes I can and the cat still isn't regulated, I will refer to an internal medicine specialist to make sure I'm not missing anything. You can find one at the following site. http://find.vetspecialists.com Please let me know if that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Never ever change your cat's insulin dose unless specifically instructed by her vet. You could accidentally do great harm or even kill her. Have Flowe seen by her vet, and her vet can determine if it needs to be adjusted. Best of luck.

I would be concerned by the lack of normal urination in a diabetic pet - they are very prone to urinary tract infections due to higher than normal sugar content in their urine which can encourage bacterial infection. I strongly recommend a urine test to determine exactly what is going on. Your vet may have special cat litter to collect a urine sample or may be able to draw a sample directly from the bladder with a needle in order to investigate fully what is going on

Hi there. Pets who are on an insulin dose that is too high can have something happen called the Somoygi effect, which basically means that their glucose levels can drop suddenly and then get really high afterwards as the body "overshoots" as it tries to compensate for the sudden drop. So yes, it's possible for an animal on a too-high insulin dose to have high glucose readings in some cases. This is why blood glucose curves are generally needed to assess the pet's response to insulin. This means checking the glucose level every 2 hours for an 8-12 hour period, to give a clearer picture of exactly how the levels are changing throughout the day. I would recommend talking to the veterinarian who is managing Cupcake's diabetes about how best to monitor her glucose levels and determine if any insulin dosage changes are needed.