animal 40
wellness educating your passion
stress & boredom busters
Is your water SAFE for them to drink?
Tasty treat
RECIPES ANESTHESIA for seniors – YES or NO? Getting cats
OFF INSULIN $4.95 USA/$5.95 Canada
VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6
Jamie Lynn DiScala How fate led the Sopranos star to Hailey www.AnimalWellnessMagazine.com
animal wellness
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contents 30
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features 14 Babysitting Bowser 24 Getting cats off Don't like leaving him home alone? Thanks to pet sitters and doggy daycares, you no longer have to
20 How animal-assisted therapy helped Tomas walk tall
Bringing children and animals together in a setting of trust and love
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insulin!
How diet can affect diabetes
28 Jamie Lynn DiScala
and her rescue, Hailey Why the Sopranos star believes fate brought them together
62 Legal beagle
18 Dr. Martin Goldstein 68 Animal passages 46 Animal
communication
animal wellness
from my dog
Hogan's heroic attitude sets a valuable example for his guardian
56 Water, water
everywhere...but is it good for him to drink? Pure drinking water is as important to Fido's health as it is to yours
columns 10 Yakkity yak
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48 Ten lessons I learned
70 The chat room
72 Book reviews 82 The tail end
Photo: Christopher Ameruoso
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features
Special Holiday Section
30 40 ways to bond
60 The Pet Fund...
over the holidays
helping animal guardians in need
Surefire stress & boredom busters
Why this organization is footing vet bills
34 Holiday gift ideas
65 More herbs and fewer
38 Easy holiday recipes
drugs is the natural solution for horses
your animals (and family) will love
Herbal remedies for equine athletes
Tasty treats for any time of year
departments 6 8
Editorial Pony express
42 Product picks
51 Wellness
resource guide
55 What’s gnu?
73 Ad spots 80 Classifieds 81 Events calendar
Animal Wellness Magazine (ISSN 1710-1190) is published six times a year by Redstone Media Group Inc. Publications Mail Agreement #40884047. Entire contents copyrightŠ 2004. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Publication date: November, 2004
animal wellness
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Getting
cats
off
insulin! by Susan Marino
F
or months, Zack’s vet tried without success to regulate the six-year-old Manx cat’s blood sugar with insulin. Zack was urinating outside his litter box, losing weight, and looked bedraggled. On several occasions, his guardian Donna returned home to find him seizing and semi-conscious, and in need of emergency treatment. She felt Zack’s medical needs were more than she could deal with, and gave me a call. The following week, Zack came to live at Angel’s Gate. For the past 12 years, I have been caring for critically and terminally ill animals. When the first diabetic cats arrived at Angel’s Gate, I followed veterinary orders regarding their insulin requirements. But within days, each cat had gone into hypoglycemic shock, a life-threatening emergency that occurs when blood sugar is too low and insulin levels too high. To find out why this was happening, I took a closer look at the trend and found that diet was the only significant change each animal underwent when they came to Angel’s Gate. We feed our animals a raw food natural diet made from local organic turkey. Since then, I have carefully monitored and kept records on over 40 diabetic felines at Angel’s Gate. I found that by simply managing their diet, more than 95 percent of these cats could safely be taken off insulin within two weeks of arriving. This was true whether the cat had been on insulin for two weeks or two years.
Understanding diabetes Diabetes is a complex endocrine disorder in which the animal’s body is not able to properly utilize blood sugar. The exact cause is not known, though it’s thought that pancreatic disease, hormonal disturbances and certain medications such as progesterone or steroids may play a part. Other causes may include a poor diet or possibly a migrating parasite that destroys the pancreas. Chronic small bowel inflammation and pregnancy may also induce diabetes mellitus, which is one of the most frequently diagnosed metabolic disorders in felines. Diabetes most often occurs in cats over six and is more common in males than females. It is estimated that one in 400 cats have the disease. According to Diane Levitan, VMD, Diplomat ACVIM, Board Certified Internal Medicine Specialist in Westbury, Long Island, there are two types of diabetes mellitus. “Type I diabetes is usually associated with the complete destruction of the beta (insulin producing) cells and it results in a
Above: Zack today – in good health and insulin-free. Right: Dakota has his blood sugar levels checked with a glucometer, which is more accurate than urine sticks.
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animal wellness
dependence on supplemental insulin,” she says. “With type II diabetes, the pancreas produces insufficient insulin.” Type II is quite common in cats. In this type of diabetes, the body tissues may not utilize insulin properly. If not managed correctly, type II can become type I diabetes. “Transient diabetes can also occur in cats,” says Dr. Levitan. These felines are often insulin resistant. As the name implies, the signs and symptoms of transient diabetes are variable and cats should be closely monitored. In the digestive process, food is broken down into glucose and amino acids that are small enough to be absorbed by the blood stream. Glucose is essential for cell energy. Insulin, a hormone secreted by the beta cells in the pancreas, is responsible for pairing up with the glucose molecule and transporting it into the cell where it can be used for energy. Insulin is the gatekeeper of the cell that allows glucose to enter. If there is not enough insulin, glucose will spill into the blood stream and cause hyperglycemia. The higher levels of sugar in the blood stream causes increased thirst (polydipsia), which leads to excessive urination (polyuria). The cat may also have a ravenous appetite (polyphagia), but continues to lose weight because his body is unable to properly utilize glucose. There is no cure for diabetes, though the disease can be managed. According to Dr. Levitan, type I diabetes is always treated with insulin, while type II diabetes is sometimes treated with oral glycosimides, but more often with insulin.
vaccine-induced illness. Diabetes could be one of these illnesses. In the early stages of the disease, the cat is active and symptoms may go unnoticed. As it progresses, the coat may change, infections may be difficult to clear and the cat may lose weight. Infrequently, cats will develop neuropathy, a weakness in the hind legs. If the diabetes is not treated, the cat can develop ketoacidosis, a life threatening condition that occurs because the body, needing energy but not able to utilize glucose, starts to break down body fats and proteins. This results in ketones spilling into the bloodstream and urine, and ultimately leads to coma and death if not treated.
Fresh alternatives In addition to feeding your diabetic cat a diet rich in bio-available protein, low in simple carbohydrates, and with moderate fiber, you can also supplement with various glandulars, herbs, spices, vitamins and minerals. This diet can have a profound effect on his insulin requirements, so changes should only be made under veterinary supervision. A diabetic feline should be fed twice a day. GLANDULARS have become one of my favorite supplements for many diseases, especially diabetes. They use whole animal tissues or extracts, typically derived from beef and pork, to enhance the
The diabesity epidemic Diet therapy is essential to the treatment of diabetes. Cats are obligate carnivores and have an innate insulin resistance mechanism that makes them sensitive to high carbohydrate diets. In fact, cats do not require carbohydrates at all, yet many are given dry food that is available 24 hours a day. “It is not just what they are fed but how they are fed,” says Dr. Levitan. Cats are not meant to be grazers! We already know that consuming too many refined carbohydrates is a potential cause of diabetes in humans. Could we be contributing to the disease in our feline companions by feeding them a steady diet of high-carbohydrate dry kibble? As with humans, obesity is a partner in the development of diabetes. “The incidence of type II diabetes in cats is on the rise in direct proportion to the increase in feline obesity,” says Dr. Levitan. Obese felines have most likely developed insulin resistance, which means their cells do not recognize insulin at the receptor sites. This means obese cats are by far the most difficult to manage; they must be carefully monitored as they are very susceptible to hepatic lipidosis, which can be fatal. In recent human studies, diabetes mellitus was linked to children who have recently been vaccinated. For years, holistic veterinarians like Dr. Jean Dodds have been warning animal guardians about animal wellness
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