How to Optimize Diabetic Remission in Cats

Presentation Description / Summary: Treatment of diabetic cats with residual beta cell function can result in progression to a period when exogenous insulin treatment is not required (remission). Current understanding is that remission is more likely if both hyperglycemia and glycemic variability can be minimized. How can exogenous insulin, nutrition, and new drugs be best used to assist the progression to diabetic remission? Insulin: For most diabetic cats, insulin treatment that mimics basal insulin physiology is likely to achieve the most stable blood glucose results and so minimize glycemic variability. What more can be done to optimize the chance of diabetic remission? What can we do when the cat needs less than 0.5 units of insulin but does not go into remission? Feeding: It is well known that dietary carbohydrate restriction is beneficial when managing diabetes in cats. However, continuous glucose monitoring has shown us that it is also important to control meal portions to regulate calorie intake and carbohydrate load. Promising new drugs: How to best use SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP1 analogues, and other new drugs in the treatment of feline diabetes.