Figure 4

Iodine content of domestic cat urine and hair. (a) Iodine concentration was measured in neat urine samples (500 μl) from cats, diluted 1-in-20 with 1% TMAH using ICP-MS. (b) Data adjusted to urine creatinine concentration, to control for variation in urine flow. Log10-transformed data are presented as box and whisker plots on a semi-logarithmic scale (a), y-axis), where boxes indicate the median, lower and upper quartiles and whiskers extend to min and max values. (c) Iodine in cat hair. Hair was washed consecutively with 3:1 (v/v) ethyl-ether:acetone, 5% EDTA for 1 h, then purite water (three-times), dried at 50 °C for 48 h. Washed and dried hair samples (100-200 mg) were digested with TMAH and iodine content determined in a 1% TMAH matrix using ICP-MS. Data were log10-transformed to normalise the distribution prior to statistical analysis using ANOVA for effect of sex, treatment for hyperthyroidism or their interaction. Statistical significance was accepted at P < 0.05.