Radiological Assessment of the Ratio of Kidney Length to the Length of Lumbar Vertebrae in Cats Referred to Tehran-Pet Clinic

This study includes the measurement of both kidneys and lumbar vertebrae (from L1 to L7) using radiography of 38 adult cats, including 22 male cats and 16 female cats in the ventrodorsal (VD) view. Radiographs were prepared in DICOM format. Then we obtained the ratio of the length of each of the right and left kidneys to each of the lumbar vertebrae. Two independent two-sample t-test and Pearson's test were used to check the relationship between the variables. The results showed that out of 38 cats included in this study, 16 cats, 42.1% of them were female and 22 cats, 57.9% of them were male. It was observed that among the vertebrae, on average, L1 had the shortest length and L5 had the longest length. The male and female groups had statistically significant differences in terms of the average length of the right and left kidney as well as the length of the L1 vertebra. The length of the left and right kidneys as well as the length of the L1 vertebra in male cats were significantly higher than in female cats. The average ratio of the length of the right kidney to the L1 to L7 vertebrae in male cats was significantly higher than these ratios in female cats. The two groups of male and female cats do not have a statistically significant difference in terms of the average ratio of the length of the left kidney to the L1 to L7 vertebrae. The length of the right and left kidneys has a direct and significant statistical relationship. It was also observed that the length of the right kidney in cats has a direct and significant statistical relationship with the length of the L1 vertebra.