Diagnosis of Feline Diabetes - Laboratory Tests

Blood and Urine Glucose Concentrations

Reference blood glucose values for cats are given below. Remember that reference values differ from laboratory to laboratory. It is important that you use the reference values for your laboratory when interpreting results.

Reference blood glucose in non-diabetic cats*

mmol/L	mg/dL
2.6 - 8.4	46.8 - 151.3

* Clinical chemistry. In Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XIII Small Animal Practice. Bonagura J ed. Saunders, Philadelphia, 2000. p. 1215

The renal threshold is around 14 mmol/L (252 mg/dL) in cats. If the blood glucose concentration exceeds this threshold, glucose is excreted in the urine.

Persistently high blood glucose and glucosuria are indicative of Diabetes mellitus.

Fructosamine and glycoslated hemoglobin

Transient hyperglycaemia can occur in cats in stress situations, such as blood sampling, urethral obstruction, etc. Fructosamine concentrations in blood are correlated with the average blood glucose concentration over the previous 1-2 weeks, whereas glycosylated hemoglobin concentrations reflect average blood glucose concentrations over a longer period. Fructosamine measurement is therefore a valuable tool in the diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes mellitus in cats. Glycosylated hemoglobin is measured less commonly.

Read more about fructosamine and glycosylated hemoglobin.