My cat, Nay Nay, is a male cat, 7 years old. He is a striped, yellow tabby; the most lovable creation I've ever seen. We've had him since he was 6 weeks old. In Apr 2000, Nay Nay started urinating on my bedroom carpet. This was totally unusual since he and his other 2 cat buddies have used cat boxes since they were born. This went on for about two to three weeks with me being VERY ANGRY WITH HIM. He did not seem sick, lethargic, or anything like that so I never suspected that he could be sick. It was only when I called the vet to chat about it that I was told to being him in right away. Sure enough, we had a diabetic cat on our hands!!

Nay Nay started on 3 units of Humulin Ultralente insulin once a day but that did not control his blood glucose levels or diabetes symptoms. We "experimented" with different amounts until we got up to 8 units a day (once a day). Nay Nay eats Pro Plan Hairball Formula for cats. All of our cats have hairball problems and this seems to help. I feed him once in the morning - no more than 3/4 cup, and once in the evening, same amount. He has no access to food at all during the day. I've often wondered why he hasn't lost any weight when he was eating all day long before; Nay Nay is a fat cat. We tried him on several types of diabetic cat food, but he seemed to have rather starved than eat it, so I just regulate the amount he gets of food he likes to eat.

Now, 3 months later, Nay Nay seems to be fine. This past time the vet let him go a month between blood level tests (with a firm reminder to me to be observant and bring him in if I noticed ANYTHING unusual). So far, so good.

The main advice I can give is to watch your cat; pay attention to how he's doing every day. That's going to be your best indicator of how well the diabetes is under control. I watch the cat box to see that no excessive urinating is going on. Nay Nay has always been a big eater, so him being voracious at dinner time is no indication for me that something is wrong. I do pay particular attention to his grooming. I watch to make sure he is doing this. This is a WONDERFUL way to tell how he is doing; he won't groom himself when he's sick.

I hope we have Nay Nay for many more years to come. I know this diabetes "thing" can be up and down. I'm hoping for a lot more "ups" than "downs."

Update: September 2001 - Nay Nay is doing great on 8 units of insulin daily. We've been so fortunate to have not had any problems with his diabetes.

-- Contributed by Jean T. Johnston

Contributed July 2000
Updated September 2001
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