The cat as a small dog?—Comparison of trabecular and cortical bone microarchitecture of radius and ulna in cats and small dogs using microcomputed tomography

The forearms of dogs and cats do not only differ anatomically from each other, but there are also differences in prevalence of radius and ulna fractures between the two species. The prevalence of antebrachial fractures is 18.0% in dogs and 2.0–8.0% in cats. Many studies focus solely on the trabecular and cortical bone structure of dogs and the characteristics of the cat are often disregarded. The aim of this study was to evaluate the trabecular structure parameters [bone volume fraction per total volume (BV/TV), bone surface per total volume (BS/BV), trabecular number (Tb.N), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), trabecular separation (Tb.Sp), connectivity density (Conn. D), degree of anisotropy (DA)] and the diaphyseal cortical bone density (Mean Density) of the antebrachium in cats and small dogs to visualise their differences. For this purpose, a total of 32 forearms of cats (n = 8) and small dogs (n = 8) were evaluated using microcomputed tomography and the findings were compared. The results of the study showed that cats had higher values for BV/TV, Tb.Th, Tb.Sp, DA and Mean Density and lower values for BS/BV, Tb.N and Conn.D at radius and ulna compared to dogs. According to the results of this study, the higher bone volume fraction (BV/TV), thicker trabeculae (Tb.Th), increased anisotropy (DA) and significantly higher diaphyseal cortical density (Mean Density) could contribute to the lower fracture risk of the antebrachium in cats compared to small dogs.
In the present study trabecular and cortical bone structure of the antebrachium of cats and small dogs were investigated and the differences had been visualized. Comparative studies of feline and canine structural bone architecture are not found at all in the current literature. Furthermore the aim of this study was to detect reasons for the decreased antebrachial fracture incidence of cats comparing to dogs .