Improving medication compliance for felines with diabetes

Pet owners whose cat has been diagnosed with diabetes are on a strict schedule with medications. Because of this, it can create challenges for pet owners being able to administer medications when needed and at the correct times every day. This can lead to frustration on the pet owner's side as well as fear over what missing medications can do to the health of their pets.

During a recent interview with dvm360®, Whit Cothern, DVM, executive director, Veterinary Professional Services, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, explained how this new velagliflozin oral solution (Senvelgo; Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health) is helping pet owners and feline patients with diabetes get the medication they need in an easier to manage way.

The following is a partial transcript of the video.

Whit Cothern, DVM: It not necessarily has to be done at a certain time or in the morning or [that] you have to make sure they've eaten. That's another thing with a diabetic cat; when you're using insulin, you have to make sure the cat eats right before you give the insulin. Because if you give the insulin [without having had food] you could cause their blood glucose to go down too low. And that's not something that we see with Senvelgo. With this class of drugs, we don't see clinically hypoglycemia, low blood sugar.