Hope for Cats with Diabetes Mellitus?

Jill Brunker, DVM in the veterinary clinical sciences department, is conducting a clinical trial on the effectiveness of exenatide in treating cats with diabetes mellitus. Exenatide is used to treat people with type 2 diabetes. It stimulates the pancreas to increase insulin production.

Diabetes mellitus is common in cats, and the feline disease shares several common features of human type 2 diabetes. The number of cats diagnosed with diabetes mellitus has increased in the last 15 years from 1 in 400 to about 1 in 50 cats, but to Brunker’s knowledge, there have been no studies published thus far using exenatide in cats.

Since the drug helps people with type 2 diabetes, she thinks it may be useful in diabetic cats as well.

Assisting Brunker with the study are Lisa Gallery, registered veterinary technician; Dianne McFarlane, DVM, Ph.D. and assistant professor of physiological sciences; Lara Maxwell, DVM, Ph.D. and associate professor in the physiological sciences department; and Teresa Seyfert, DVM and resident in small animal internal medicine.

The American Association of Feline Practitioners is funding the clinical trial. Thus far, the owners of seven diabetic cats have agreed to participate in the clinical trial.

“In a clinical trial, onehalf of the animals receive exenatide and the other half a negative control,” says Brunker, who is a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

“I don’t know which cats are getting exenatide and which ones the control. We evaluate the cats every two weeks for three months. At the end of the three-month trial period, we will find out which cats received the drug.

“If the drug works, we will be able to lower the cat’s insulin requirement. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the cat’s requirement for insulin injections,” she says.

The drug should make the cat produce more of its own insulin. It also makes the cat feel fuller so that it eats less. Weight control is an important aspect of treating diabetes in cats.

“Diabetes affects middle age to older cats, so it’s important for the cat’s overall health to keep its weight down,” Bunker says, “just as it is unhealthy for people to be overweight, the same holds true for animals.”

Another benefit of the drug is that it will not cause the cat’s glucose level to drop below normal concentrations.

“This is a potentially attractive and safe therapeutic option for cats with diabetes, since insulin injections commonly create hypoglycemic episodes,” she says.

“The results of this study have the potential to help a multitude of diabetic cats. If exenatide therapy can improve glucose control, fewer cats with naturallyoccurring diabetes would be euthanized due to treatment failure with insulin and diet.”

DERINDA LOWE