Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with diabetes had unusual claw infection that healed
By Putra, Andhika & Plowgian, Curtis·Published in Topics in companion animal medicine·2024·Peterinary Medical Centre·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Uncommon dermatologic manifestation (paronychia) in a cat with diabetes mellitus.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 3.5-year-old male domestic short hair cat was brought in for a chronic wound and crusty skin around his claws that had been present for several months. The cat was diagnosed with diabetes after tests showed high blood sugar levels and symptoms like increased thirst and weight loss. He was treated with a medication called glipizide, and within a few weeks, his claws and the skin around his paws returned to normal. Remarkably, as the diabetes improved, the skin issues also resolved without any additional skin treatments, and the cat has remained healthy since.
People also search for: cat diabetes treatment · cat claw problems · why is my cat losing weight and drinking a lot · diabetic cat skin issues · cat with crusty paws
Abstract
A 3.5-year-old male intact domestic short hair cat presented for a chronic wound and crusts over the claw and claw folds over several months. The cat was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus based on the presence of persistent hyperglycemia, glucosuria, and compatible clinical signs which consist of polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia, and weight loss. Glipizide (Glucotrol XL, Pfizer, Indonesia) 2.5 mg orally twice daily was prescribed. By the seventeenth day, the patient's claws and skin around the paw had normalized and the abnormal claw sloughed off, revealing a normal claw underneath. Blood glucose, urinalysis and serum fructosamine were also normalized by the thirtieth day. The patient underwent diabetic remission, and the skin and claw lesions have remained in remission and not recurred since the treatment of the diabetes mellitus. This is the first report of a diabetic cat with dermatologic changes to the skin and claw regions. As the diabetes mellitus went into clinical remission, so too did the dermatologic manifestations, even without any specific dermatologic treatment.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38616020/