Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Low cholesterol in cats - causes and findings from 106 cases
By Bowman, Claudia et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2020·VCA Care Specialty and Emergency Animal Hospital, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Hypocholesterolemia in cats: a multicenter retrospective study of 106 cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 106 cats with low cholesterol levels (hypocholesterolemia) was studied to understand the health issues they faced. Most of these cats were around 6 years old and commonly had gastrointestinal, liver, or blood-related problems. While the severity of low cholesterol didn't seem to affect survival, those with low protein levels in their blood (hypoalbuminemia) had a much higher risk of not surviving their treatment. This suggests that if your cat has low cholesterol and also low protein, they may need more careful monitoring and treatment.
People also search for: cat low cholesterol symptoms · hypoalbuminemia in cats · cat liver disease treatment
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe the clinicopathologic findings and associated diseases found in a population of hypocholesterolemic cats referred to two tertiary care facilities. METHODS: An electronic medical record search was performed at two veterinary university referral centers to identify cats with serum cholesterol values below the reference interval between January 2004 and 2016. Clinicopathologic data were reviewed for each case and cats were classified into specific disease categories based on clinical diagnosis. Median cholesterol values were compared between disease categories, as well as between survivors and non-survivors. RESULTS: In total, 106 hypocholesterolemic cats were included. The median age of the cats was 6 years (range 0.24-18 years). The most common disease categories were gastrointestinal (25.9%), hepatobiliary (19.8%), hematologic (14.8%) and urogenital (14.8%). Though median serum cholesterol values did not differ significantly between survivors and non-survivors, cats with concurrent hypoalbuminemia were at higher risk (odds ratio 15.6, 95% confidence interval 5.2-46.6;<0.0001) of not surviving to discharge than cats with normal serum albumin concentrations. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Taken together, our data suggest that while the degree of hypocholesterolemia did not appear to influence survival rates, the concurrent presence of hypocholesterolemia and hypoalbuminemia was associated with a worse prognosis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31710272/