Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LXVI, Issue 1
Written by Gheorghe V. GORAN, Emanuela BADEA, Victor CRIVINEANU
This research’s main objective was the assessment of zinc levels in hair from cats with different liver and kidneys disorders, compared to control group. Zinc (Zn) hair content analysis of the cats with liver disorders (n = 6), cats with kidneys disorders (n = 9), and clinically healthy cats as control (n = 6), was performed by inductively coupled plasmaoptic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Zn concentrations in hair were significantly different (p = 0.015) between males with liver disorders (22.10 mg kg-1) and males with kidneys disorders (6.181 mg kg-1), and no significant differences have been observed compared to zinc mean concentrations in clinically healthy males (10.60 mg kg-1). Significant differences were observed when comparing Zn mean levels in males with different kidneys disorders to Zn levels in clinically healthy males. No significant differences depending on health status or age were found in either studied category. The highest zinc mean value was found in hair samples from male cats with liver disorders, and the lowest zinc mean value was found in male cats with kidneys disorders. This research on zinc assessment from hair, an easy and non-stressfully collected sample, shows that this kind of sample could be appropriate for the evaluation of the mineral status of cats with different organ dysfunctions in urban areas. Hair zinc levels found in this study may contribute to the database of reference concentrations of minerals in cats from Romania.
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