CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND HEMATOLOGIC REFERENCE INTERVALS OF CAPTIVE RACCOONS (PROCYON LOTOR) IN GERMANY

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are widespread in Central and North America and invasive in Europe and other parts of the world, where they are regularly presented at wildlife rescue centers and often require medical care. However, there are limited blood reference intervals for this species to date, even though these values are absolutely necessary to correctly assess animal health. The aim of this study was, therefore, to establish suitable clinical chemistry and hematologic reference intervals for raccoons. Blood was obtained and analyzed from 48 healthy young adult pet raccoons during castration. Twenty-seven clinical chemistry and 16 hematologic analytes were determined with a cobas^® 8000 analyzer series module c701 and Sysmex XN-V analyzer. Significant differences between males and females were only found for the immature reticulocyte fraction (P = 0.0273) and the mean corpuscular volume (P = 0.0064). This suggests that there are no strong sex-specific differences at this age and physiologic state (i.e., not pregnant or lactating). The results of this study should help to better assess the clinical condition of raccoons in human care and improve medical care.