Diabetes mellitus in cats is often reversible with early, aggressive treatment with insulin and a low-carbohydrate diet. Many diabetic cats achieve remission, making early diagnosis and treatment the most welfare-important intervention.
Cats with uncontrolled diabetes experience osmotic disturbance, weakness, and peripheral neuropathy causing the characteristic plantigrade gait. This neuropathy is painful and may progress to inability to walk normally. Early, aggressive insulin therapy combined with dietary change offers the possibility of remission, eliminating the welfare burden of daily injections and returning the cat to normal health. Delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment condemns cats to prolonged suffering from a manageable condition.