Hello

I would really like some advice or stories from anyone who has or had a cat with diabetes and/or acromegaly as i am feeling very scared and upset about the whole thing!

My house cat, Pootle (remember the Flumps?) is about 14 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes about 9 months ago. The poor little lady has been through everything - had every associated illness possible and has had so many trips to the vets for tests. As i am sure you will understand i love her so much and will do anything i can to make her life the best. Don't get me wrong if she was in pain i would think again, but she is the happiest i've ever seen her! I live on my own with her so if you have any experience of a pet and diabetes you will probably understand how your life changes and seems to focus around your little loved one, but also that you wouldn't have it any other way.

I could go on forever about the details of her illness but i'll just narrow it down in the hope someone can share their experiences with me to give me a bit of hope and more understanding. She has never stabilised with the diabetes in the terms of blood tests and is on the highest dose of insulin twice a day. You would never guess she is ill, she has no symptoms at all anymore - she is lively, has a healthy coat, eats and drinks normal amounts and does all the normal cat things! The vet looked into it further and i was told yesterday she has Acromegaly which is why the blood tests show she is not responding well to the insulin. In short, I am told this means it will eventually affect her heart and the diabetes can never be stabilised.

It's just so upsetting as she appears so well yet it just feels like a horrible ticking time bomb. I am sad to leave her & go to work in case something happens when i am not there. I find it too painful to say anymore on how i feel.

I would really, really appreciate it if anyone could provide a little bit of support for me in the way or advice or shared experiences.

Hope to hear from you.

Liz & Pootle

Hi, sorry to hear about Pootle (love the name!)

How was the acromegaly diagnosed? I understood acromegaly to be excessive production of growth hormone, and I've never heard of it in cats. It's what causes certain humans to grow to huge heights like 7 ft plus.

Secondly, what does Pootle eat? Changing the diet of a diabetic cat can often make a huge difference to their insulin requirements. A diabetic cat should never eat any type of dried food.

www.yourdiabbeticcat.com

__________________

Hello,

Thank you very much for your reply. Pootle eats Purina DM specially for her diabetes, twice a day at 7am and 7pm (i stick to exactly what the vet tells me to do), i don't give her any other food as much as i'd like to. It is dry food though and the vet said that is ok, do you disagree? There is a meat/pate version of it which i sometimes give her instead as a treat.

It took ages to find out it is acromegaly. She has had tests for all sorts of things and the vets were not sure what to try next but they heard that the London veterinary school were doing a study into cats that won't stabilise. So they accepted a sample of Pootle's blood and diagnosed acromegaly. The vet said it is like a benign tumour under her brain but also said it produces excess growth hormone which interfere's with the insulin so i am a bit confused as i didn't think a tumour acted in that way? The vet has been absolutely fantastic though and i will speak to her again to get things straight.

I have heard the disease(?) makes cats heads grow large but Pootle has no symptoms at all. The vet said we need to monitor her heart now but i just have no idea how it will affect her or how long she can live with it. Apparently it is very rare in cats, although i am not surprised with Pootle as i suspect she goes on the internet when i am at work to pick which illness to have next! She has literally been through the alphabet!

If you have any comments or ideas i'd love to hear them.

Thanks.

I'd heard of Purina DM food but wasn't familiar with the ingredients, so I googled it and was shocked to see that it contains 18% carbohydrate - while that's less than many other dried foods, IMO it's still FAR too high for a cat's sole diet, let alone a diabetic cat. Cats require 3% or less carbohydrate in their diet!

Did you look at the website I posted? Elizabeth Hodgkins may be willing to offer advice personally if you contacted her - as well as being a feline specialist vet she is also a very successful breeder (of Ocicats)

I think you need to discuss things with your vet, but I do think that you might manage Pootle's condition better if she did not get any dried food. It has to be worth a try!

As for the acromegaly, it's really interesting.

__________________

found the following on feline acromegaly:

Merck Veterinary Manual

__________________

Thank you for your help. I have emailed Dr Hodgkins to see if she can offer any advice. Both websites you posted are really helpful and i am quite alarmed about the dry food, i am definitely going to speak to my vet about it.

Thanks again.

Hi I have just joined and don't even know if you will see this as I see you haven't posted much yourself.
My cat George just lost a 3 year battle with acromegaly. He had radiotherapy treatment which I think slowed down the growth of the tumour and gave us more time with him. He was also included in a trial that they are currently doing on feline acromegaly at the RVC.
If they get accepted into the trial, any scans etc.. are free.
I did however pay for the radiotherapy but luckily George was insured.
Please talk to your vet about the trial. If you can get your cat there, it would definately be worth it. My boy recieved the very best care.
Any questions please ask.
Acromegaly is such a horrible condition and I was devastated when he was diagnosed so if you need to talk I am here.xxx

Also would like to add that at times Georges diabetes was impossible to control. At one stage he was on 24 units twice a day, other times hardly any insulin was needed.
He was on Hills m/d tins and biscuits which made no difference to his condition and ended up being on branded cat food in jelly.
There is a forum called cat acromegaly. I joined but didn't post often. You may find it useful though.

Sorry, me again... I am also on facebook and have a couple of friends whose cats also have acro. I also have human friends who have acro/gigantism. If you are on facebook, please feel free to add me.

hi sharks and housecat,
just join the forum as i thought it ll be nice to meet people who are familiar with acromegaly in cats.
TC is now 12. we got him since he was 6,though we had a daughter in december 2010 , he remains our first baby and we love him so so much.

when i got pregnant in april 2010 ,TC started to pee in random places (never done that before) , lost some weight , drank and pee a lot. we thought he was jaelous because of the pregnancy, we got a Feliway plug to see if that would work, but the vet tested him for diabetes too and we found out that he was diabetic. unfortunatly as the months passed and the amount of insuline increases(12 units of caninsulin twice a day) if blood sugar level were still really mega high! (like up to 33mg), by september he started to put bk on weight , we thought it was a good sign but the vet tested him for acromegaly and the test came bk positive. we were totally devastated (we still are and everyday you dunno what can happen). he does not look like he is in pain or anything but his belly is sooo big cos of the growth hormone , his back legs dont carry much anymore, and i noticed his lip. tongue, and gums are much bigger. and of course the diabetes is still out of control.
our vet didnt advise us radiotherapy , she said it was to risky and results were not garateed plus not being insured and being quote 7000 pounds you understand that we ended up ruling out the radiotherapy.

we decided to not book holidays this year, and me being on maternity leave i spend more time at home to look after him. we are more lay back about his diet now, we still feed him m/d for dry food but any branded tins , plus the occasional treat of chicken, fish etc...but i always leave food out for him.
that might sound horrible , but we thought if there is nothing medically we can do for him, then at least we can give him food when he wants it and lot of cuddles when my daughter let me!
its very hard to see your cat going down hill little by little, and like you say its a bit like a ticking bomb.
however to finish on a positive note, TC seems not to get any worse since a few weeks...i dunno if its a bit like MS and there are some periods of stabilisation.

xxx