Complete Blood Count and Biochemistry Reference Intervals for Healthy Adult Donkeys in the United States.
Authors: Goodrich Erin L, Webb Julie L
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Blood Reference Intervals for Donkeys Donkey haematology and biochemistry reference intervals used in U.S. veterinary practice were last comprehensively established over 30 years ago, leaving practitioners without current, domestically relevant benchmarks for interpreting clinical pathology results. Goodrich and Webb enrolled 120 apparently healthy donkeys across multiple U.S. states—including 20% wild-caught animals from Death Valley—stratified by size (standard, miniature, and mammoth), and established new reference intervals following rigorous ASVCP and CLSI guidelines. The resulting datasets provide updated normal ranges for complete blood counts and serum biochemistry panels specific to the U.S. donkey population, with notable differences documented in several key analytes when compared to both established equine references and previously published donkey data from other regions. These findings enable more accurate clinical interpretation of laboratory results and should reduce the risk of misdiagnosis stemming from reliance on outdated or geographically disparate reference values. Practitioners will benefit from region-specific ranges that account for the varied genetic backgrounds and environmental exposures of U.S. donkeys, particularly when differentiating between pathological findings and normal breed or population variation.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Use these updated U.S.-specific reference intervals instead of outdated 30+ year old data or values from other countries when interpreting CBC and biochemistry results in your donkey patients
- •Be aware that miniature and standard donkeys may have different reference ranges; consult size-specific intervals when available for accurate clinical interpretation
- •When comparing donkey results to equine reference ranges, recognize that donkeys and horses have distinct biochemical and hematologic profiles—direct comparison can lead to misinterpretation
Key Findings
- •Updated robust reference intervals for complete blood count and serum biochemistry established for 120 apparently healthy adult donkeys across the U.S. (standard n=102, miniature n=17, mammoth n=1)
- •Study population included 20% wild-captured donkeys from Death Valley National Park, CA, providing geographically and ecologically diverse reference population
- •Reference intervals established in accordance with American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines, replacing data from studies over 30 years old
- •Comparative analysis provided between U.S. donkey values and both U.S. horses and previously published donkey reference intervals from other geographic regions