Diabetes is a very common disease of cats occurring in more than one out of every 400 cats in the United States. Furthermore, the incidence of diabetes in cats appears to be increasing as a result of obesity in the feline population. Diet plays an important role in the development of obesity in cats and hence the development of diabetes mellitus. The investigator proposes to study the effects of giving acarbose, a diet pill that blocks starch and sugar absorption from the intestine, and vanadium, a mineral that mimics the action of insulin, to diabetic cats in order to alleviate the need for these cats to receive insulin injections.
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