A scientific study has found that increasing numbers of pet cats are being diagnosed with diabetes, with those that are overweight being three times more likely to suffer from the condition…
The research, based on 14,000 cats, found that one cat in 230 in the UK is now diabetic. Being male, neutered, overweight and not taking enough exercise – at least three of which apply to a large percentage of the human population – are the main risk factors.
The study by the University of Edinburgh is the first attempt to quantify diabetes in cats and suggests that the growth of the condition in pets is mirroring the increase in diabetes in people.
The research on feline health was released as it emerged that the NHS is spending nearly £1 million a week on slimming pills in a bid to control Britain’s obesity epidemic, which is linked to an increase in human diabetes.
Diabetes is also on the increase in dogs, with figures suggesting that 40 per cent of dogs in the UK are overweight, and 25 per cent are obese.
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Previously the most common hormone problem in cats was overactive thyroid disease, but that condition has now been overtaken by diabetes.
The number of diabetic cats in Britain is now nearly five times higher than the figure recorded in a study carried out in the USA in the 1970s.
Read the full story here.
Although this study was done in the UK, that doesn’t mean American cats are immune. News reports come out regularly that say more and more Americans are overweight, and as a result diabetes has become an epidemic in this country. So, if our pets mirror our own health, as the UK study suggests, those of us who are at risk for diabetes might want to get ourselves and our pets on a healthier diet.
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IMO, this is what happens when you take a primarily carnivorous animal and start feeding it with mostly grains and fillers that its system isn’t engineered to handle in such amounts.
I can take my dogs for walks/ runs/ adventures. I’m not sure how to exercise a cat. She has furniture for climbing, but she gets less active every year.
Jan, I recently got a laser pointer and discovered that my cat absolutely goes nuts over it. I think she’s moved more in the past few weeks than she has in years! lol