/k ÛA ia //• HEPATOPATHY AND HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA IN RED PANDAS ASSOCIATED WITH A DIET CHANGE

Bamboo is a staple for the red panda, Ailurusfulgens, in the wild and has been used successfully as a mainstay in their diets while in captivity (Glats'ton, 1980; Roberts, 1982). Due to the fact that bamboo is not plentiful in many geograph-ic regions, it remains a limiting factor in the propagation of red pandas in cap-tivity. A feeding trial was conducted in the autumn of 1986 at the National Zoological Park (NZP) in Washington, D.C., to search for a suitable fiber replacement. The purpose of this paper is to describe a condition characterized by liver dysfunction and elevated serum cholesterol that developed during these feeding trials in five red pandas. The liver problem (hepatopathy) was disco-vered inadvertently in one of the red pandas (no.3, Dusty) that had undergone a pre-shipment health examination early in December of 1986. Although not ill at the time, the red panda had developed a markedly elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT), a serum enzyme used to monitor Hver function in domestic carnivores. As a result of these findings the four other red pandas on the feeding trial were tested eight days later and were also found to have simila