Written by: Nick Tricarico, All Breeds Cat Judge

Cats have been on this earth as long as people, if not longer. Cats were revered in some countries, such as in ancient Egypt, and are commonly accepted as household members. It is interesting to see how some of today’s breeds developed from their ancestors or were fashioned as unique breeds. Here are just a few…

The Abyssinian cat that we recognize today was bred in Great Britain and named after ‘Abyssinia’ (now Ethiopia) where they supposedly originated. Widely-spread stories existed of British soldiers deployed to North Africa in the nineteenth century who returned home with Abyssinian kittens. These were bred with other cat varieties to develop a breed with a unique ticked coat where individual hairs are banded with different colors.

The Australian Mist cat, a breed that was originally called the Spotted Mist cat, was developed in Australia by Dr Truda Straede by crossing the Burmese and the Abyssinian—along with an assortment of domestic shorthaired cats—to create a cat with a unique spotted or marbled coat pattern.

The Bengal breed is a hybrid of the Asian Leopard Cat and domestic shorthaired cats, and was developed to look like an exotic jungle cat.

The Birman, otherwise known as the Sacred Cat of Burma, is often claimed to have originated as a companion of temple priests in northern Burma. Several Birman cats were exported to France and were bred with other cats, including the Persian and Siamese, which created today’s point colors. The original cats were seal point.

The British Shorthair breed is the pedigreed version of the traditional British domestic cat, and is believed to have been brought to the country by the invading Romans in the first century AD. The cats had been imported to protect the Roman grain houses from mice, and they mated with local domestic cats to create today’s breed. The gene pool in the UK was decimated during the Great Wars, and the breed was therefore outcrossed to the Russian Blue, Chartreux and Persian breeds to increase the gene pool.

The Burmilla originated in the UK in 1981 following the accidental mating of a Chinchilla Persian and a Burmese. The resultant Burmese-looking cats with silver undercoats and ticked or tipped coats proved an attraction and led to further breeding.

The Cornish Rex, which has a short, thick and plush, curly or wavy coat with crinkled whiskers and eyebrows, has been refined from a naturally mutated curly coated kitten found in a domestic cat’s litter in Cornwall, UK. Likewise, the Devon Rex breed was discovered by Beryl Cox in Buckfastleigh, in Devon, UK, again using a naturally mutated curly-coated kitten found in a domestic cat’s litter. The breed was then developed using the curly-coated offspring and domestic shorthaired cats.

The Scottish Fold breed originated from a natural mutation that occurred in a litter of kittens born to Susie, a white barn cat who had an unusual fold in her ears. Susie was found on a farm in Perthshire in Scotland, in 1961. She later had a litter of kittens and two had folded ears. Today the breed has small ears folded forward and downwards and resembles an owl.

One myth is that the Maine Coon breed descended from ancestors of semi-feral domestic cats and raccoons in Maine, USA. The generally accepted hypothesis is that the Maine Coon breed descended from pairings of local shorthaired cats with longhaired cats brought from overseas by English seafarers.

The Tonkinese is a domestic breed produced by crossbreeding Siamese and Burmese cats. The ideal Tonkinese should be intermediate in type, neither svelte like the Siamese nor cobby like the Burmese. Everything about the Tonkinese should be intermediate between the two breeds in all aspects.

There are many other breeds with unusual beginnings, but I hope that I have stimulated your curiosity enough for you to want to research these.

For more stories by Nick Tricarico, visit the Happy Cat’s Litter website. Happy Cat’s Litter is Cats and Diabetes preferred supplier of environmentally friendly, biodegradable, organic and compostable cat litter.

Cleo’s incredible journey through feline diabetes to remission

A Memoir, by Heather Peden

In the latter part of 2014, my cat Cleo was diagnosed with feline diabetes. She had just turned nine when she dropped a bunch of weight and then started walking funny; her hocks clonked noisily against the floor and she struggled with the stairs.

Feline diabetes was not something I ever really thought about and the diagnosis came as a bit of a shock, especially since Cleo was a cat who had never been sick a day in her life. This was a cat who made it very clear from the time she was a kitten that she didn’t need anything from anyone, a cat who wore dog slobber like a badge of honour. ‘How could she be so seriously ill?’ I wondered as we were thrown headlong into a whirlwind of information, vet visits, blood and urine tests, insulin shots, and home blood glucose testing.

Suddenly there was a sharps container in my bathroom and a cat who could barely walk from one side of the room to the other. At her worst, Cleo suffered peripheral neuropathy in all of her limbs, so that she flailed and flopped everywhere. It was difficult to watch.

From the beginning, though, we had been told about the possibility of remission and I clung to that idea. I was sure we would get there. If any cat could do that, I thought, it would be Cleo. But as the weeks went by and Cleo seemed to be getting worse instead of better, it felt very much like we were running out of time.

The treatment we were following didn’t seem to be working, so I began researching the disease more thoroughly, determined to find a different way. I learned a lot more about a healthy feline diet and I learned about tight regulation. I made some changes to what we had been doing and watched in astonishment as three months after her diagnosis, Cleo started to get better.

It was amazing to watch her body heal, and it happened quickly after I got all the pieces in place. By the end of March 2015, Cleo no longer needed insulin injections and by the end of that summer you wouldn’t guess that she had ever been sick. Her legs, which I was sure would never be normal again, repaired themselves a little more each day until she was leaping about the house like she had when she was a precocious two-year-old.

Through the entire ordeal, Cleo was incredible. I was so proud of her and so grateful to have this second chance with her that I wanted to share her story. I wrote The Comeback Cat in the hopes it might help other cats in the world, and their people, dealing with feline diabetes. I also wrote the book as a bit of a tribute to Cleo, an eccentric cat who never seemed to quite fit in to our family, but whom I have greatly come to admire in all her quirkiness.

Cats are lovable, but they sure can be fickle. They have their favorite toys, their favorite scratch pads, and their favorite sleeping spots; disturb them, and cats quickly make their opinions known. But what about food? There are hundreds of choices of all different flavors and specificity, such as by age or health concern.

Luckily, there’s a wet food option that can find favor with any feline in your house. But first, you have to understand how wet food differs based on texture. Wet food comes in types of size—like, flaked or cubed or minced. Each of those may appeal to your feline, so you might have to try a few with your cat.

You’ll also have to understand that feeding wet food isn’t the same as feeding dry food. You’ll have to have set times to feed with wet food, and cannot leave any leftovers out during the day.

Want to learn more? Check out these graphics (reproduced with permission)!

My little boy only a few months old

Today would have been my boy’s 19th birthday. I still have the little alter devoted to him set up in my home. On it I have photos of him, the cards people sent me after he crossed the rainbow bridge, his collars and his urn. There is other memorabilia there too.

Every year on my boy’s birthday I would buy him barbecue chicken, and every time he would purr his loudest purr, and I would feel his love and happiness. Tonight I bought a cooked chicken for dinner, my boy’s favorite meal, and I gave him some chicken and I lit candles for him.

The first night I brought him home with me he purred the same purr. To this day I’ve not heard a purr to equal his. On that first night I put down his first bowl of food in my home. He was ravenous and almost choked from purring so hard and eating so fast all at the same time. It was love and first bite

We shared such a long life together and I am blessed that he was with me so long. I think he lived longer even than non-diabetic cats. I think love helps keep us alive. I wear his name around my neck everyday. He is close. I still feel him with me.

2Pac, you taught me so much about life and loving, and you will always be my little boy. I love you bunny.

Me and Ratiti relaxing on a Sunday morning

I have recently returned home from a delightful cat-sitting adventure in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. My dear friend Heather went on holiday for 10 days and I had the privilege of caring for her 6-year-old Tonkinese, Ratiti (which is Fijian for Daughter of the Chief). We had many adventures, including playing hide-and-seek, chasey, and pipe cleaner wars.

Caring for such a young, non-diabetic cat was so different. I had forgotten how little water a non-diabetic cat drinks, how infrequently they urinate, and how strange it was not to do blood tests throughout the day and give insulin injections.

She was such a pleasure. Sometimes she slept with me, sometimes she slept in her favorite cupboard, and sometimes she chose to do both, alternating at regular intervals … all night!

Thank you Ratiti, for all your beautiful cuddles and gentle purrs. Auntie will miss you xx

I found this wonderful little page that has an audio podcast about feline diabetes. Click on podcast number 7.

It’s been three months and one week since I last saw my boy. I haven’t been able to face writing about him until now. It’s been very strange not having him around. I often think I hear him or see him under my feet. He was always following me around the house, no matter where I went, there was my little shadow at my heels. When I was in the kitchen doing dishes, he sat at my feet the whole time waiting until I’d finish and sit him on my knee. I still sometimes check the ground to see if he’s there so I don’t step on him.

I miss him every day.

I lost my beloved boy last Wednesday 30 May when he crossed over the rainbow bridge and out of my life. Where his suffering ended, mine began. I’m in so much pain and I miss him so much. He’s my baby, my little boy, and I feel so blessed to have shared the last 18 years of my life with him.

Given some of the extreme blood readings 2Pac has had over the past couple of weeks, the vet suspected the Somogyi Effect. So, we went to the vet again on Saturday and started a blood sugar curve that I completed throughout the evening at home.

2Pac’s Blood Sugar Curve (29 May 2012)

You can see that the curve is gentle, so is definitely not indicative of Somogyi Effect. This is a relief, but his numbers are still showing very high readings. His ataxia disappeared on Sunday, but returned by Monday night. It’s now Tuesday night and he’s doing really poorly.

Last week 2Pac had extensive blood work done. His urea is extremely high, as is his Creatinine and CK levels. He is also slightly anemic.

Well, 2Pac has been treated for a UTI since Easter Monday, 9 April. It’s now 5 May and his bloods are so high. I think the medication is the culprit. I rang my vet yesterday who doesn’t believe that the amount of oral antibiotics could affect his bloods this much. 2Pac is usually a very stable diabetic cat; however, since being on Clavulox for this extended period, he was dangerously high today. Up until tonight he’s been eating normally and all signs pointed to normal; however tonight he didn’t eat much, was unstable while walking, and has been drinking excessively. These are his readings for the past couple of days:

Friday 4 May 2012:

• 10.05 am 0.6 mls Clavulox and 0.01 units Lantus insulin
• 10.35 am blood glucose = HI (numbers were off the scale)
• 1.45 pm blood glucose = mg/DL (31.0 mmol/L)
• 1.50 pm 0.005 units Lantus insulin (additional half dose)
• 6.05 pm blood glucose = mg/DL (17.9 mmol/L)
• 10.00 pm 0.6 mls Clavulox
• 10.10 pm blood glucose = mg/DL (20.5 mmol/L) and 0.01 units Lantus insulin

Saturday 5 May 2012:

• 9.55 am 0.6 mls Clavulox and 0.01 units Lantus insulin
• 8.45 pm blood glucose = mg/DL (32.9 mmol/L)
• 8.45 pm 0.6 mls Clavulox and 0.02 units Lantus insulin (double dose)
• 10.50 pm blood glucose = mg/DL (31.5 mmol/L)
• 11.30 pm ketodiastix urine analysis = 10 with 0 ketones

Sunday 6 May 2012:

• 12.05 am blood glucose = mg/DL (28.1 mmol/L)
• 1.20 am blood glucose = mg/DL (24.1 mmol/L)
• 1.50 am blood glucose = mg/DL (26.0 mmol/L)

I stayed up with him until I knew for sure that his BGs were going down.

If your diabetic cat is on oral medication for a UTI or any other infection or condition, be extra mindful of your baby’s blood glucose levels. Pay careful attention to their behavior in general, and monitor your little friend’s food and water intake. If you have any concerns, call your vet immediately.

On Easter Monday I noticed that 2Pac had blood in his urine again. He managed to get another urinary tract infection (UTI)! UTIs are rapidly becoming one of 2Pac’s main weak spots, the poor darling.

I have been using the puppy training pads around his litter tray, which really helps with cleaning.

2Pac has been on another course of antibiotics, but this time we couldn’t visit his usual vet because they were closed, so we had to go to a pet hospital that was open on the public holiday. He usually has his antibiotics as a single injection, this vet prescribed Clavulox® oral medication. I don’t think there’ll be enough in the bottle to last the required 10 days.

I went interstate a couple of weeks ago and 2Pac went to stay with some friends of mine, Tony, Loren, Emelie and Marty. Emelie is nine years old and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was only five. Emelie was really looking forward to caring for 2Pac because she felt a special connection with him because he has diabetes just like her.

You may have read in an earlier post that I recently went on another interstate visit and I took 2Pac to a nearby vet for boarding. He came back with UTI that then lead to behavioral problems, he is 18 years old after all! I was worried about leaving 2Pac again, so Loren graciously offered to look after him. He was very happy with this choice of weekend retreat. After he came home he was eating better and was in higher spirits generally.

Loren posted this on my Facebook page:

“Good evening good lookin’. Mum said that our little furry friend 2Pac was eating really well. Want to know the secret, do you think you are ready to handle the answer?? Well, here it comes … we didn’t wrap him in cotton wool!! He actually CHOSE to jump up and get comfy on the couch, run to the laundry door to try to beat me there so he could get into the rest of the house, and did lots of activity without little steps to climb or any human intervention. Its called exercise and it made him hungry!! Liesha, you are sssooo lucky to have a wonderfully healthy cat given his age and his diabetes. He has you WRRAAAPPPPPED around his little kitty claw. You react to his every wimper because you love him AND he looks helpless because he wants you to love him more every second he can be with you. I truly believe he ate a lot becuase he was more active. If I was you I would make him little kitty adventure play grounds in the lounge room, just with stuff around the house for him to walk through and explore. He may be slower, wobblier and a bit off balance sometimes, however he is still a curious little cat and I think he can do a lot more than he likes you to think. We miss you 2Pac – come again soon – u 2 Liesha give him a big kiss for us xxxx” (Loren, reproduced with permission)

Well I’ve recently returned from a short holiday while 2Pac was staying in a cattery within a vet surgery. He was none too pleased with me, I can assure you of that! I felt so mean leaving him there, but it was only for three days, well, two and a half actually. He must have thought it was for a year or two. He was not a very happy boy when I brought him home, and after a couple of days I noticed that he was peeing outside his litter box and all over the laundry floor. I knew this to be a sign of feline urinary tract infection (UTI), so I collected a direct-stream sample in a sterile cup and took it to the vet for testing. I prefer to do this as it means that he doesn’t experience high stress levels from being at the vet, because high stress levels cause blood glucose to increase.

The test came back negative. I was puzzled, but accepted the diagnosis. I came home, mopped the laundry floor again (now reaching about four times a day). A few days later I noticed blood on the floor and pee now on the coffee table. Cats with UTIs frequently urinate inappropriately, and he was starting to exhibit much less attractive levels of inappropriateness! By this time it was seven days since the negative test result. I collected another sample and took it to the vet. The diagnosis was extreeeemely positive for UTI. We gave him some

Hi everyone, well, today for the first time I tried rotating the site of 2Pac’s insulin injection. I injected him in the flanks as recommended by Dr Audrey Harvey in the Glossary. He was lying down on his side when I did it and he didn’t even flinch! I don’t think he felt a thing

My boy turned 18 today. He has been with me since he was three months old and now he’s 18! It’s been an amazing journey.

He’s not been feeling very well lately.

I just found this wonderful video on Diabetes in Cats on Steve Dale’s Pet World. Steve is interviewing Dr Sandy Wright, an internal medicine specialist from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.  This is an especially great video for newbies who have just been diagnosed. Did you know that, if managed appropriately, an estimated 10-40% of diabetic cats can go into remission sometime during the 12 months immediately following diagnosis? Learn a few insights. I highly recommend that you watch this video.

My 17 year old Sugar Baby, 2Pac

2Pac is my magnificent sugar baby. He was diagnosed with feline diabetes mellitus at the tender age of 13. He is now 17 years old and going strong. He is my baby love and my inspiration for creating this site. Without 2Pac, none of this would be possible. I hope that you benefit as much from the wonderful information on this site as much as I have in creating it for you. I saw a need for current, organised and useful information and tools for owners of cats with diabetes. We are special Mummies and Daddies indeed. I found it difficult to find everything I needed in one easy location. Now, with Cats and Diabetes, I am bringing to you informative articles and information, valuable tools and videos, an extensive glossary, and many wonderful products that I’ve sourced from all over the world, brought together into this one little but very cute website. If it wasn’t for 2Pac, I couldn’t have done all of this. I do this in his honor. He is a brave little boy, as I had to be a brave Mum.