Just like humans, cats can also have diabetes. If your cat is diagnosed with diabetes, you may be terribly shocked at first. However, cats and males with diabetes can also lead a cat-worthy life, albeit with a few measures and adjustments. One of these adjustments could be a switch to grain-free cat food. Incidentally, grain-free cat food is also suitable for cats that do not have diabetes.
Diabetes, or diabetes mellitus, is relatively common in cats. Overweight cats are especially at risk of developing diabetes sooner or later in life.
If a cat or a hangover has diabetes, this means that a problem has arisen in the sugar and insulin balance in the body. A shortage of insulin (which is produced in the islets of Langerhans, in the pancreas) ensures that sugar in the blood can no longer be absorbed by the body cells. This increases the amount of sugar, or glucose, in the blood. This can be easily demonstrated with a blood test.
Recognize diabetes in cats
If your cat has diabetes, he or she will develop more and more symptoms as the glucose level in the blood rises. Symptoms of diabetes in cats are:
- Very thirsty
- Urinating often
- Increased appetite
- Sensitive to urinary tract infections
- Acetone smell from the cup
- Weight loss
If you suspect that your cat or hangover has diabetes, then decide not just to look at it! Diabetes can be treated well, but without treatment your cat will become sicker and weaker and eventually die.
How is diabetes treated in cats?
A successful treatment for diabetes consists of several parts. A very important, and really necessary, part is the administration of injections with insulin. This should be done once or twice a day, at a fixed time. You don’t have to go to the vet every time: he / she teaches you how to measure the glucose level in the blood and how to administer insulin.
It also looks at the medication that the cat is already using. A female or male who, for example, gets prednisone, will have to stop.
Food for cats with diabetes
Carbohydrates and starch belong to the long sugar chains. This means that they are slowly absorbed into the blood. (This in contrast to fast sugars, which are absorbed quickly but also quickly disappear.) If the cat consumes a lot of carbohydrates, this food will cause the blood sugar level to fluctuate more. This makes it harder for the cat to adjust to insulin and he / she will feel worse.
Ingredients grain-free food
In contrast to the regular cat food from the supermarket, many grain-free cat food contains a low content of carbohydrates. The cat food that you buy in the supermarket has a carbohydrate content of 30 to even 50%. This means that the sugar level in the blood increases enormously after eating these kibble, with all the consequences that entails.
Grains are difficult for cats to digest. There are also cats that are allergic to grain. Grain-free cat food naturally contains no grains. Grain-free cat food can contain corn, soy, potato or peas. The disadvantage of this is that these ingredients can also be quite high in carbohydrates. The producer may also have replaced the grain with animal fat. In the best scenario, the grain has been replaced by animal protein, which is unfortunately reflected in the price (which increases as a result).
Grain-free cat food for diabetes
If you want to switch to grain-free food because your cat has diabetes, it is important that the grain is not (completely) replaced by other carbohydrate bombs such as potatoes. These carbohydrates are still converted into sugars in the body. For cats with diabetes, make sure that the food contains a high content of easily digestible proteins. (As a rule, this means: the higher the meat content, the better.) This will help your cat maintain a healthy weight and healthy blood sugar. Please note that grain-free feed is a addition is on the use of insulin, not a substitute for it!
You would also do well to give your cat wet food in addition to grain-free kibble. Canned food contains a lot of meat and is therefore high in protein, but low in carbohydrates.
Grain-free cat food: also for hypersensitive cats or cats with allergies
Not only diabetic cats, but also cats and males who suffer from allergies, or cats who are very food sensitive, can benefit greatly from grain-free cat food. After all, cats are carnivores and their digestive tract is designed for food that contains a lot of protein and few carbohydrates. Grain-free cat food is therefore considered a high-quality cat food.
