Abstract
Elephants have been reported with renal disease,3-6 and arthritic elephants are often maintained on long-term administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs which have been associated with renal injury in other species.1,2 Therefore, establishment of the reference values of normal urine would be a useful tool to elephant health care.
Routine urinalysis was performed on urine collected from healthy female adult Asian elephants (Elephas maximus, n=30). Elephants were included in the study if they had normal serum urea nitrogen and creatinine serum concentrations, no history of urinary tract disease, and had not received any medication within the past 3 months. Urinalysis included gross description of urine color and clarity, measurement of pH and specific gravity, biochemical analysis and sediment evaluation.8 Presence of protein was assessed by the sulfosalicylic acid tubidimetric test. All urine samples were submitted for aerobic bacterial culture.
Initial findings included identification of calcium carbonate crystals in the urine of most of the animals in this study; some (n=5) contained small numbers of struvite crystals (magnesium ammonium phosphates). Most samples were alkaline, and clarity ranged from clear to flocculent. Specific gravity tended to be fairly low, and isosthenuria was frequent. Trace bilirubin was detected in some samples. No ketonuria or proteinuria was found. Glucosuria, which has been reported as a transient and normal finding in captive elephants,6 was not detected in any samples.
Literature Cited
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6. Simon K.J. 1958. A preliminary study of the urine of elephants. Indian Vet. J. 35:345.