Haematological examinations of the ferret (Mustela putorius furo)

In this study about haematological examinations in 100 clinically healthy f errets, blood collection technique, the range of application of automatic a nalysing systems and haematological standard values are discussed. The bloo d was collected from the Vena cephalica without sedation. The haematology s ystems put into use were the Technicon H*1 and the Celltek MEK-6108G. The m anual methods included the leukocyte count with the counting chamber proced ure, the determination of haematocrits by using the microhaematocrit method and the manual leukocyte differentiating using three different stainings. For the complete blood cell count a good correlation of all methods could b e determined. For the differential blood cell count the correlation between the results of the Technicon H*1 and the manual results were not satisfact ory. The determination of the reference values for the complete blood cell count came out of the results of the Technicon H*1. The reference values fo r the differential blood cell count resulted from the manual evaluation of the Pappenheim stained blood smear. Due to this examination the haematologi cal standard values for the ferret were more precise.