Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Inhaled insulin lowers blood sugar in healthy cats
By DeClue, Amy E et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2008·Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Glucose lowering effects of inhaled insulin in healthy cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of healthy adult cats was tested to see if inhaled insulin could lower their blood sugar levels. The cats received different treatments, including aerosolized insulin and intravenous insulin, and their blood glucose was measured afterward. The results showed that both the inhaled and intravenous insulin significantly reduced blood sugar levels compared to a saline solution. However, more cats experienced dangerously low blood sugar levels with the intravenous and higher doses of inhaled insulin. This suggests that while inhaled insulin can effectively lower blood sugar, careful monitoring is needed to avoid hypoglycemia.
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Abstract
Inhaled medications have proven effective and well tolerated in cats, and inhaled insulin has been used successfully for the management of diabetes mellitus in humans. Thus, we hypothesize that delivery of aerosolized regular insulin can lower blood glucose in healthy cats. Five adult cats were administered aerosolized 0.9% saline (IS), regular insulin intravenously (IV) 0.5 U/kg, and aerosolized regular insulin 15 U/kg (I15) and 25 U/kg (I25) and blood glucose was evaluated. Mean blood glucose was significantly lower at 15, 30 and 45 min in the I25 and IV groups compared to baseline. Similarly, the IV and I25 groups had a significantly greater maximal percent change in blood glucose than the IS group. Significantly more cats developed severe hypoglycemia (<50 mg/dl; 2.7 mmol/l) in the IV and I25 groups than in the IS group. Results of this study demonstrate that aerosolized insulin can effectively lower blood glucose concentrations in healthy cats.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18602326/