The effects of body weight, body condition score, sex, and age on serum fructosamine concentrations in clinically healthy cats.
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.
Gilor
Chen
C
Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61802, USA.
Graves
Thomas K
TK
Lascelles
B Duncan X
BD
Thomson
Andrea E
AE
Simpson
Wendy
W
Halpern
David S
DS
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000097:blood; D002415:Cats / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D019270:Fructosamine / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000662:veterinary; D012737:Sex Factors
D019270:Fructosamine