Latest studies are showing that diabetes is increasing amongst feline populations. USA Today cites a report (downloadable here) conducted by Banfield that reveals an unsettling trend.
Many of those chubby cats loafing around all day — exercise limited mostly to lumbering to the food bowl to chow down on heaping mounds of lovingly presented kitty kibble — are developing diabetes in increasing numbers.
Sixteen percent more cats were diagnosed with the disease last year, vs. 2006, at the 770 Banfield Hospitals in 43 states.
That’s one of the findings in Banfield’s recently released State of Pet Health Report, an analysis of data from the visits of 2.1 million dogs and 450,000 cats in 2010.
The effect of too much food and too little exercise has been trumpeted by veterinarians for years (though some vets are more vehement, diligent and direct in spreading the word than others). And many of them thought they were seeing a distressing concurrent increase in feline diabetes among their fat-cat patients.
via USA Today
Signs of diabetes include drinking and urinating more. Other symptoms include weight loss despite good appetite. Please call Campus Veterinary Clinic if you see any of these symptoms or would like to learn more.