Is diabetes in cats a death sentence if untreated for a little while?

Diabetes works differently with animals. While it's not healthy for cats to be that big (outside of certain breeds of course), diabetes isn't necessarily driven by weight like it is with humans.

That being said, take your damn cat to the vet. Diabetes in animals also doesn't go away, and chances are you'll need to inject insulin twice a day when they eat.

I have a cat that was near 18lbs doing the same stuff...vet considered him obese and diabetic....I wasn't about to pay for bloodwork for something my wife found in a parking lot. We put him on a crash diet for several months, lost about 8lbs. He still pees more than what I think he should but its not on our stuff like it was. Granted he is 13 years old but is considerably better. Just my 2 cents.

I am considering just letting him drop more weight. Get him down to 10-12 lbs. Then getting some bloodwork done.

I switched my diabetic cat to this low carb food from the vet and she was cured. ETA they are like people. Weight loss can cure or improve the Beetus if it’s type 2 (the kind that develops in adulthood to those who are overweight.)

i had one that was always eating but losing weight as well, he eventually passed a year or so later. They can live a little longer with the disease

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Black fur. I don’t know if that matters

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Totally relevant.

So, you are concerned that your cat has a condition that will require treatment/prescription; and your solution is to let it just drop 1/2 of its body weight. And, depending on the breed of the cat, being 10-12 could actually be underweight. Of course, the vet that you are not sending your cat to, would be able to tell you the ideal weight for it.

Just give the damn cat away, and don't consider owning any more pets.

Take the cat to the vet. If the numbers go too high or too low, the cat could die. If you don't want to care for the cat, then try to find a good home where the folks will take care of the cat.

I had an older cat who got diabetes. Switched to the low carb Fancy Feast cans and started her on low doses of insulin. In about 16 days, she was off the insulin. That doesn't always happen, but it can. I didn't buy into the vet prescription foods. I went to a website about diabetic cats which had a messageboard. Those folks gave me good advice. My vet was shocked at my results. She'd given the cat 4u of insulin that first day and it was too much, but that was the standard at the time. The board told me to start at 1u since I was changing the food. I did that and her numbers got back to normal.

What do you feed the cat?

Some breeds of cats will over eat and if you're only feeding it kibble then that's not good. Wet food should be implemented in a diet for better protein.