🐾 Ready for Episode 3b? Read the Latest on Diabetic Cats! 🐱

Here we are with episode 3b, where we explore a recent paper on the use of veraglifozin in diabetic cats. 🐾

👇 You can find a summary below

𝘌𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘖𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮-𝘎𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳 2 𝘐𝘯𝘩𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘝𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘻𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘴
𝘕𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭, 𝘑𝘝𝘐𝘔, 𝘑𝘶𝘭-𝘈𝘶𝘨 2024; 38(4): 2099-2119. 📖 𝘋𝘖𝘐: 10.1111/𝘫𝘷𝘪𝘮.17124

📌 Background:
This study evaluates the efficacy, safety, and practicality of once-daily oral velagliflozin compared to standard insulin therapy in diabetic cats.

🐱Hypothesis:
Once daily sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor velagliflozin PO is non inferior to insulin injections

📋 Material and Methods:
Prospective, multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial.
Cats diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (naive or pre-treated with insulin), excluding cases with complicating factors such as concurrent severe illnesses (e.g., ketoacidosis or renal failure).
Two groups:
1️⃣ Velagliflozin orally, once daily.
2️⃣ Control group treated with standard insulin therapy (caninsulin) via twice-daily subcutaneous injections.

🎯 Endpoints:
Primary: Blood glucose regulation assessed through fructosamine levels, glucose curves, and clinical signs (e.g., PU/PD, weight stabilization).
Secondary: Incidence of hypoglycemia, owner-reported quality of life (QoL) measurement, and adverse events.

📊 Results:
🐈 Velagliflozin demonstrated comparable effectiveness to insulin in maintaining target glucose levels.
🐈Fewer episodes of clinical hypoglycemia in the velagliflozin group, highlighting its safety profile.
🐈Owners reported improved convenience and satisfaction due to once-daily dosing, minimizing stress for both cats and owners.
🐈Velagliflozin-treated cats achieved or maintained appropriate body weight.

✋Mild side effects (e.g., GI signs, UTIs, hypoglycemia, DKA) were infrequently observed.

✅ Conclusions:
Velagliflozin is a safe, effective, and practical alternative to insulin injections for managing diabetes mellitus in cats. It offers substantial benefits in terms of convenience and quality of life for pet owners, while maintaining glycemic control without significant risk of hypoglycemia. Individual patient suitability and close monitoring remain crucial, especially at the start of treatment.

📢 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳:
This summary is for informational purposes. Please read the whole paper to understand better the use of these medications. 📖 DOI: 10.1111/jvim.17124