HEMATOLOGIC AND BIOCHEMISTRY REFERENCE INTERVALS FOR RESCUED RED FOXES (VULPES VULPES)

Although the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a widespread free-living species in Europe and is often treated as a patient in wildlife rescue centers, peer-reviewed published reference intervals (RI) for hematologic and biochemistry variables are not available. The aim of this study was to determine routine RI for common clinical analyses for this species. After rescue events, single blood samples were collected from 14 female and 18 male adult red foxes and submitted for standard hematologic and biochemistry analyses. The RI were determined by either parametric (normally distributed data) or robust (nonnormal data) statistical methods and showed values close to those reported for specimens of similar fox species, but they were not comparable to historical veterinary clinical data gathered from animals following surgeries or pathology sample collections. Sex did not significantly affect the blood variables, except for iron, which was higher in males. This is the first study reporting RI for a large number of blood analytes in free-living red foxes in Italy. The proposed hematologic and serum chemistry RI, which are specific to red foxes that have recovered after veterinary treatments, represent a set of healthy clinical values that will be helpful for both veterinary care and environmental monitoring.