Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How weight, age, and sex affect blood sugar tests in healthy cats
By Gilor, Chen et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2010·Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The effects of body weight, body condition score, sex, and age on serum fructosamine concentrations in clinically healthy cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study looked at 84 healthy cats to see how their weight, body condition, sex, and age affected their blood sugar levels, specifically a marker called fructosamine. The results showed that heavier cats and those with a higher body condition score (a measure of fatness) had higher fructosamine levels, indicating a potential risk for diabetes. Interestingly, male cats had higher fructosamine levels than female cats, regardless of their weight or condition. This suggests that maintaining a healthy weight is important for preventing diabetes in cats.
People also search for: why is my cat overweight · cat diabetes symptoms · healthy weight for cats · fructosamine levels in cats · male vs female cat health
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Serum fructosamine (SF) concentrations depend on plasma glucose concentrations and are used to evaluate glycemic control in animals with diabetes mellitus (DM). Despite the strong association between obesity and DM, the effects of body weight (BW) and body condition on SF concentrations in clinically healthy cats have not been reported. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of BW, body condition score (BCS), sex, and age on SF concentrations in healthy cats. METHODS: BW, BCS, and SF concentrations were determined in 84 clinically healthy client-owned cats (50 neutered males, 33 spayed females, and 1 intact female) of known age. The cats were enrolled prospectively in the study. RESULTS: Mean BW, median BCS, and mean SF concentrations for the 84 cats were 5.4 kg, 5/9, and 268.7 ± 45.5 μmol/L (range 197-399), respectively. BW was weakly but significantly correlated with SF (r=.26; P=.02), whereas BCS was not. Cats weighing >5.4 kg and cats with BCS>5/9 had higher mean SF concentrations compared with cats weighing <5.4 kg and cats with BCS <5/9, respectively. Cats categorized as normal weight to obese by BW (BW ≥ 4.0 kg) had higher mean SF concentrations compared with cats categorized as lean (BW< 4.0 kg). For domestic shorthair cats, the same was true for BCS: cats with BCS ≥ 4/9 had higher mean fructosamine concentrations than those with BCS<4/9. Male cats had significantly higher mean SF concentrations compared with female cats (285.1 ± 45.3 vs 244.5 ± 33.9 μmol/L, P<.001). Age did not affect mean SF concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: BW is positively correlated with SF concentration, and lean cats have lower SF concentrations than normal and obese cats. In contrast to previous reports, mean SF concentrations were higher in male cats than in female cats, even when males and females were matched based on BW, BCS, and age.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20412547/