Diabetes and Cats

I live with three cats -- Calli, Poupée and Chaya. You might wonder what cats have to do with diabetes. Well, I'll tell you. My cats are the closest thing I have to a continuous glucose monitor with a hypoglycemia alarm.

A few years ago my diabetes was not under such good control. I had a wonderful hemoglobin A1C, but I was having low blood sugars in my sleep, sometimes to the extent of falling out of bed and having seizures. My boyfriend recalls that one time when I had hypoglycemia I apparently asked him if I should eat Calli for lunch.

One early morning several years ago I woke up because my cat Puff (who has since passed away) kept jumping on me. She would literally jump on me, then jump off the bed, then jump up on me again. She kept doing that until I woke up and became aware that I had low blood sugar. At first I thought this was a coincidence, until she did the exact same thing the next time I had low blood sugar while I was sleeping.

Other times, Calli has woken me up when I have had low blood sugar. (We wonder if this is to stop me threatening to eat her.) She stands on my chest and starts to tap my face with her paw. If I don't respond to this treatment, she will bite my nose. Chomp! This is enough to penetrate even the worst hypoglycemic fog. Believe me, having your nose bitten hurts!

After Puff passed away two years ago, I adopted a kitten, Chaya. I no longer need a feline alarm to wake me when I have low blood sugar while I'm sleeping; since I switched from Regular insulin to NovoRapid, I have started waking up when I have hypoglycemia. But sometimes when I'm concentrating on something, I don't notice the symptoms right away.

Sometimes when I'm using the computer I get very involved in what I'm doing. If I get low blood sugar while doing this, Chaya will start putting her paws up on my lap and going, "Meow! Meow!" I'll reach down to pet her, and she'll keep going, "Meow, meow!" Sometimes she does this when I have low blood sugar; sometimes she does it just because she wants attention. I have not figured out whether it's just a coincidence that she starts behaving this way when I have low blood sugar, but it's enough to make me stop what I'm doing and test my blood sugar -- just in case!