Systolic blood pressure in cats with diabetes mellitus.

To determine the prevalence of systemic hypertension in cats with diabetes mellitus and establish ranges for echocardiographic variables in diabetic cats. Prospective study. 14 cats with diabetes mellitus and 19 healthy control cats. Systolic blood pressure was measured indirectly with a noninvasive Doppler technique. Ophthalmic and echocardiographic examinations were performed, and urine protein concentration was measured. Cats were considered to have hypertension if they had systolic blood pressure > 180 mm Hg and at least 1 other clinical abnormality typically associated with hypertension (eg, hypertensive retinopathy, left ventricular hypertrophy, or proteinuria). None of the diabetic or control cats had systolic blood pressure > 180 mm Hg. One diabetic cat had left ventricular hypertrophy, but systolic blood pressure was 174 mm Hg. None of the cats had evidence of hypertensive retinopathy or proteinuria. Mean values for echocardiographic variables for the diabetic cats were not significantly different from published values for healthy cats. Results suggest that hypertension does not occur or occurs in only a small percentage of cats with diabetes mellitus.