Literature

Literature
Review

Topics in Wildlife
Medicine: Clinical
Pathology, Volume 1
Edited by
Florina S. Tseng and
Mark A. Mitchell
Publisher—National
Wildlife Rehabilitators
Association, 2005.

T

his 87-page volume repre-
sents a new and innovative
effort from the National

Wildlife

Rehabilitators

Associa-

tion: the periodic publication of a
journal aimed at improving the in-
formation available to veterinari-
ans involved in the medicine and
rehabilitation of native wildlife.

Chapters include:

●

Introduction to diagnostic test-
ing for wildlife— how do I in-
terpret the results?

●

Comparative hematology

●

Interpreting biochemical tests

●

Cytological

sample

analysis

and interpretation

●

Parasite sample collection and
interpretation

●

Bacterial testing and interpre-
tation in wildlife

●

Viral testing and interpretation

The last 25 years have seen a

dramatic expansion in the quality

and diversity of literature available
to assist rehabilitators and improve
their efforts to help animals. But
for veterinarians working with na-
tive wildlife, there is a paucity of
resource material. In recent years,
there has been a flood of books
and journals focused on the health
care of zoo animals, exotic pets,
and wildlife populations. How-
ever, few resources have been pub-
lished specifically designed to im-
prove the skills of veterinarians
treating native wildlife.

I am impressed with the exper-

tise of the authors of this first vol-
ume. Many of them are leaders in
the field of wildlife rehabilitation
medicine. In addition to their vet-
erinary training, each of these au-
thors has many years of hands-on
experience with a wide variety of
species (by my rough count, the 6
authors represent well over a cen-
tury of rehab experience!).

None of the material in this vol-

ume represents genuinely new sci-
ence, nor is this dry academic mi-
nutiae that one rarely applies in
real life. It does, however, repre-
sent a unique distillation and com-
pilation. Before this volume, prac-
titioners seeking a basic “how to”
or “what does it mean” informa-
tion about wildlife diagnostics
were often frustrated by having to
search a bewildering array of re-
sources of widely varying quality.
Now the authors and editors of
this volume have done much of
the work for us. They have filtered
a huge body of literature to pull

together a text of useful and prac-
tical information. Perhaps best of
all is that this information has
been tempered and tested by their
many years of experience. Starting
with Dr. Mark Mitchell’s introduc-
tory chapter, each author shares
their experiences of what they
have really found to work in a re-
habilitation setting.

Standard and not so standard

techniques are presented in a
straightforward manner. I particu-
larly found the tables on evaluat-
ing serum biochemistry constitu-
ents (pp 20-26, 31-42) to be a
uniquely comparative and helpful
tool that I will often use.

On pages 27 to 30 is a nice se-

ries of color plates that comple-
ments several of the chapters. I
think that the choice of pictures is
adequate, but I would request that
in future editions the publishers
consider printing the photos in a
glossier or higher resolution man-
ner to increase their quality.

Who is this volume for? Primar-

ily, it is aimed at veterinary clini-
cians, but the veterinary techni-
cian, advanced rehabilitator, and
field biologist will all find helpful
information as well.

What will this volume do? It will

allow the veterinarian to better un-
derstand, utilize, and interpret the
growing array of diagnostic clini-
cal tests available to us. It also
highlights some of the key refer-
ences and resources available to
practitioners.

Seminars in Avian and Exotic Pet Medicine, Vol 14, No 4 (October), 2005: pp 291–295

291

What will it NOT do? It will not

make most of us into bench scien-
tists or instant experts. You may not
be able to do a PCR or know about
Baerman tests, but you will certainly
learn a great deal about what these
tests can tell you and when they are
(and aren’t) worth the time and
money.

Depending on your interests, ex-

pertise, and experience, many veter-

inarians using this volume will find
that they may already know much of
what’s presented in one or more
chapters. But I am certain that no
matter your level of experience, you
will find gems of information and
new ideas in this journal. I congrat-
ulate the National Wildlife Rehabili-
tators Association and the authors
on this effort and look forward to
seeing what comes next.

MARK POKRAS, DVM

Wildlife Clinic

Tufts Cummings School of

Veterinary Medicine

North Grafton, MA

© 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1055-937X/05/1404-$30.00
doi:10.1053/j.saep.2005.09.008

Abstracts

Bertelsen MF, Mosley C, Craw-
shaw GJ, et al: Inhalation anes-
thesia in Dumeril’s monitor
(Varanus dumerili) with isoflu-
rane, sevoflurane, and nitrous
oxide: effects of inspired gases
on induction and recovery.
J Zoo Wild Med 36(1):62-
68, 2005

Induction and recovery times of
Dumeril’s monitors from inhala-
tion anesthesia using isoflurane,
sevoflurane, and nitrous oxide
were studied. The study was per-
formed on 10 captive-bred moni-
tors, and each animal received
each of 4 treatments once in a ran-
domized order, with at least 7 days
between treatments. The treat-
ments were isoflurane in 100% O

2

,

sevoflurane in 100% O

2

, sevoflu-

rane in room air, and sevoflurane
in 66% N

2

:34% O

2

. The flow rate

was 1 L/min, and the vaporizers
were dialed to maximum (5% for
isoflurane and 8% for sevoflu-
rane).

Mask

induction

with

sevoflurane was significantly faster
than with isoflurane. There was no
significant difference between the
induction time for sevoflurane in
O

2

or in room air, but sevoflurane

combined with N

2

O resulted in

significantly faster inductions than
were obtained with sevoflurane in
100% O

2

. All protocols involving

handling resulted in markedly ele-

vated respiratory rates compared
with undisturbed animals. The
number of breaths was signifi-
cantly higher during induction
with isoflurane than with sevoflu-
rane. The sequence in which com-
plete muscle relaxation occurred
was consistent: the front limbs lost
tone first, followed by the neck
and hind limbs. The righting re-
flex was then lost and finally tail
tone. Recovery time after anesthe-
sia was not affected by the percent-
age of inhaled O

2

.

Gibbs JP, Steen DA: Trends in
sex ratios of turtles in the
United States: implications of
road mortality. Conservation
Biol 19(2):552-556, 2005

Road mortality has been impli-
cated as a significant demographic
force in turtles, particularly for fe-
male turtles, which are killed dis-
proportionately on overland nest-
ing movements. The authors syn-
thesized published estimates of
population-level sex ratios in fresh-
water and terrestrial turtles in the
United States (165 estimates for 36
species). From this analysis, the
proportion of male turtles in pop-
ulations has increased linearly
(P

⫽ 0.001), and this trend is syn-

chronized with the expansion of
surfaced roads. In addition, sex ra-
tios became more male biased in

states with higher densities of
roads, and in aquatic species, in
which movement differentials be-
tween male and female turtles are
greatest. They are least biased in
semiaquatic and terrestrial spe-
cies, in which overland movements
are more comparable between
sexes. These findings may have sig-
nificant implications, because it
has been found that slight in-
creases in turtle adult mortality
can lead to large declines in pop-
ulations.

Harrenstein LA, Tornquist SJ,
Miller-Morgan TJ, et al: Evalu-
ation of a point-of-care blood
analyzer and determination of
reference ranges for blood pa-
rameters in rockfish. J Am
Vet Med Assoc 226(2):255-
265, 2005

Captive

adult

black

rockfish

(Sebastes melanops) and adult blue
rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) were
anesthetized with tricaine meth-
anesulfonate

for

collection

of

blood samples. Heparinized blood
samples were immediately ana-
lyzed with a point-of-care analyzer
(i-STAT portable clinical analyzer;
Heska Corp, Fort Collins, CO).
Blood sodium, potassium, chlo-
ride, urea nitrogen, and glucose
concentrations were determined.
In addition, hematocrit, pH, par-

292

Abstracts