Feline Diabetes

Feline - Diabetes is my site for posting information on the diabetic cats. Anything related to diabetic cats can go here.Feline diabetes is not the natural fate of hundreds of thousands of pet cats world-wide. It is, rather, a human-created disease that is reaching epidemic proportions because of the highly artificial foods that we have been feeding our feline companions for the past few decades. Without the constant feeding of highly processed, high carbohydrate dry foods, better suited to cattle than cats, adult-onset feline diabetes would be a rare disease, if it occurred at all.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

The Basics of Feline Diabetes

All cells in the body use glucose ("blood sugar") as their source of energy. However, in order for glucose to provide nourishment to the cell, the glucose must get inside the cell. Insulin, which is produced by the pancreas, is the substance that tells the 'front door' of the cell to open up in order to let the glucose inside. If this system is disrupted for any reason, the glucose cannot enter the cell and subsequently, the level of glucose increases in the blood stream (hyperglycemia) and the cells go 'hungry'.

There are two types of diabetes. Type 1 and Type 2. Type 2 is the more common form in both humans and cats.

Type 1 occurs when the beta cells of the pancreas are not able to produce enough insulin.

Type 2 is characterized by two problems. The first, as in Type 1, is a diminished ability of the pancreas to secrete insulin. The second issue is one of insulin resistance. In other words, the receptors on the cell wall that would normally open the door to the cell to let the glucose in when insulin 'knocks', stop 'listening' to the insulin. The cells 'resist' the signal that the circulating insulin is sending and the glucose is not transferred to the inside of the cell, resulting in an elevated blood glucose and cellular 'starvation'. The elevated blood glucose, in turn, sends a signal to the pancreas telling it to secrete more insulin. The elevated insulin may somewhat override the insulin resistance resulting in more glucose entering the cells, but eventually the pancreas can become exhausted or 'burned out'

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