Objective To study the serum metabonomic changes in abnormal Savda rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were subjected to abnormal Savda-producing conditions followed by induction of T2DM. Plasma samples were collected from each test group and analyzed by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The spectral profiles were analyzed by multivariate analysis using orthogonal projection to latent structurs discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Results The content of glucose and lactic acid in plasma of the rats with abnormal Savda syndrome was decreased, while the contents of VLDL, LDL and carnitine increased obviously. For abnormal Savda rat model with T2DM, the concentration of amino acids (alanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, glutamic acid, phenylalanine, methyl-histidine, glycine), and lactic acid, pyruvic acid, glycoprotein, citric acid, creatinine, β-hydroxybutyric acid, acetoacetic acid, acetic acid, acetate, creatine, carnitine, scyllo-inositol, VLDL, LDL were decreased, and glucose and taurine concentrations were increased significantly. Conclusions Protein metabolism, phenylalanine and tyrosine metabolic pathway, glycolytic pathway and the lipid metabolic pathway may be considered as biomarkers of abnormal Savda rat model of T2DM.