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Quality Requirements for Dogs, Cats, and Horses? PDF Print

In a new paper, two scientists perform a literature survey of the veterinary diagnostic literature and attempt to calculate basic quality requirements for common analytes - for the non-human species.

Analytical Quality Requirements For Veterinary Diagnostics

The table below contains information on calculated quality requirements developed and published in "Quality control validation, application of sigma metrics, and performance comparison between two biochemistry analyzers in a commerical veterinary laboratory", Farr AJ, Freeman KP. J Vet Diagn Invest 20:536-544 (2008).

See their accompanying essay on these requirements.

A key part of this paper was a review of the literature to determine quality requirements for the major non-human domestic species (dog, cat, horse). To our knowledge, this review of the veterinary literature is the first of its kind. Bear in mind, some of these requirements are in different units than those generally used in the US. So they may not be immediately comparable.

Analyte Species Reference Interval
Clinical decision level
Calculated quality requirement (TEa, %)
Albumin (g/l) Dog 25- 41 Low:22.5 11
Alkaline phosphatase (U/l) Cat <60.0 High:80 25
Alanine aminotransferease (U/l) Dog, cat 5-60 High: 120 50
Amylase (U/l) Dog, cat 100 - 1,200 High: 1,800 33
Aspartate aminotransferase Horse 100-370 High: 500 26
Bile acids (umol/l) Cat 0.1 - 10 High: 13 23
Total bilirubin (umol/l) Dog, cat 0.1 - 5.1 High: 9.3 50
Total calcium (mmol/l) Dog 2.45 - 3.10 Low: 2.1 16
High: 3.6 14
Chloride (mmol/l) Dog 100-116 Low: 95 5
High: 122 5
Cholesterol (mmol/l) Dog 3.2 - 6.2 Low: 1.9 68
High: 10.0 38
Creatine kinase (U/l) Horse 20 - 225 High: 340 34
Creatinine (umol/l) Dog 20 - 150 High: 180 17
Glucose (mmol/l) Dog, cat 3.3 - 5.8 Low: 2.75 20
High: 7.25 20
Gamma glutamyl transferase (U/l) Horse 10 - 45 High: 60 25
Lipase (U/l) Dog 0.1 - 200 High: 400 50
Inorganic phosphorous (mmol/l) Dog 0.8 - 1.6 Low: 0.6 33
High: 2.0 20
Potassium (mmol/l) Dog 3.6 - 5.6 Low: 3.2 12.5
High: 6.2 10
Sodium (mmol/l) Dog 135 -155 Low: 128 5
High: 163 5
Total Protein (g/l) Dog 55 - 75 Low: 50 10
High: 83 10
Urea (mmol/l) Dog 2.5 - 7.5 Low: 2.0 25
High: 8.0 16


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