An interview with Karen Fong – the 2026 Dunkin Award winner

13 April 2026

The 2026 Dunkin Award for the best published paper in small animal medicine in the Journal of Small Animal Practice was awarded to Karen Fong at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. We asked Karen about her research paper on hypoalbuminaemia and its association with disease and clinical outcomes in cats, and what she learnt from the study.

How did you become involved in the study?

I have always had an interest in feline medicine, and was fortunate to meet my supervisor, Dr Glynn Woods, as an intern and to work on this research topic. I find the topic of hypoalbuminaemia in cats fascinating. Hypoalbuminaemia is a commonly encountered biochemical abnormality in daily practice, and studies in dogs have highlighted its role as a useful prognostic indicator in a range of conditions. In comparison, research characterising hypoalbuminaemia in cats remains limited. Its role as an acute phase protein and its prognostic value in feline diseases are also yet to be clearly defined.

What question(s) did your research tackle?

Our study sought to report the incidence of hypoalbuminaemia in the feline population presented to our veterinary teaching hospital. We also aimed to explore the relationship between serum albumin and the respective disease categories and aetiopathogenesis. In addition, we evaluated the prognostic utility of serum albumin by examining its association with clinical outcome in affected cats.

Briefly, what were the main findings of your study?

The incidence of hypoalbuminaemia in our study population is 32.7%.

Notably, gastrointestinal disease emerged as the most common disease category, with approximately half of these cases attributable to gastrointestinal neoplasia. When considering underlying aetiopathogenesis associated with hypoalbuminaemia, neoplastic and inflammatory conditions were most frequently implicated.

Furthermore, cats with moderate to severe hypoalbuminaemia also had a statistically significant longer hospitalisation period, cost of treatment and increased odds of death.

Were the results what you expected, or were you surprised by the outcome?

The relatively high incidence of hypoalbuminaemia in our feline population is interesting, surpassing the reported incidence in canine studies, which ranged from 9.8 – 25.2%.

Our findings support the role of albumin as a negative acute phase protein in cats.  The number of cats with gastrointestinal disease and hypoalbuminaemia was higher than we expected. While limitations inherent to a retrospective study must be acknowledged, these findings suggest that protein-losing enteropathy in such cases may be more common than previously recognised.

What is the key message you’d like veterinary professionals to take away from the study?

Hypoalbuminaemia occurs more commonly in cats than we previously thought, and the identification of hypoalbuminaemia is significant. It may help streamline diagnostics and assist clinicians when managing client expectations. We hope this study encourages further dialogue surrounding the topic of feline hypoalbuminaemia and serves as a springboard for future research. Further evaluation of the role of serum albumin in feline prognostic scoring systems is also warranted.

Read the paper “Hypoalbuminaemia and its association with disease and clinical outcomes in cats” in JSAP here.