PLASMA-CORTISOL LEVELS IN CAPTIVE WILD FELINES AFTER CHEMICAL RESTRAINT

Eight Panthera onca (Po), 13 Felis concolor (Fc), 7 Felis yagouaroundi (Fy), 7 Felis tigrina (Ft) and 5 Felis pardalis (Fp) specimens from S ao Paulo State toes were used. All animals were restrained with darts containing 10 mg/kg ketamine and 1 mg/kg xylazine. Venous blood sample s were collected as soon as possible (within 15-20 min) and serum was frozen until the time for cortisol quantification. Cortisol was determ ined using a solid phase radioimmunoassay with an intra-assay coeffici ent of 8.51%. Data were analyzed statistically by the Kruskal-Wallis t est, followed by Dunn's multiple comparisons test, and the one-sample t-test, with the level of significance set at P<0.05. Data are reporte d as means +/- SEM. Cortisol levels differed among the captive felines : Po = 166 +/- 33(a), Fc = 670 +/- 118(b), Fy = 480 +/- 83(b), Ft = 23 7 +/- 42(ab), Fp = 97 +/- 12(a) nmol/l (values followed by different s uperscript letters were significantly different (P<0.001)). Since most of the veterinary procedures on these species involve chemical restra int, these results show the necessity of preventive measures in order to minimize the effect of restraint stress on more susceptible species .