New advancements in pet diabetes

In honor of National Pet Diabetes Awareness Month, Jessica Pritchard, VMD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM), clinical assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, interviewed with dvm360 to discuss the new treatments available for cats with diabetes including recently approved drugs by the FDA. She also explained how continuous glucose monitoring can be effective and help save money.

The following is a partial transcript of the video.

Jessica Pritchard, VMD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM): I think the fact that we have some treatments now for diabetes and cats with the SGLT2 inhibitors is really great because it takes away some of that caregiver burden. And that it's much easier to find a pet sitter that can give your cat a pill or liquid once a day.

And I think less of a new advancement but more newly and widely adopted would be the continuous glucose monitoring with things like Freestyle Libre, because it's a more affordable option for getting much more information about how that pet is doing at home. It's less stressful for the pet and their owner. We have some owners that apply them at home by themselves. So they're saving money there.

Don't underestimate what your owners are willing and able to do for their pets.