Description
Clinical Pathology forms an important part of the clinical investigation in exotic species. This may reflect our often limited understanding of these species, and therefore a need for more information. Sometimes it will reflect a simple lack of ability to gain much information from clinical examination, eg. chelonia where more than a basic examination is precluded by the shell. A lot of useful information can be gained from clinical pathology. However, it should always be remembered that such data does not replace the clinical examination and history taking an, in some cases, other diagnostic tests such as radiography or ultrasonography may give more information. Similarly, poor quality or inappropriate samples as well as poor sample handling will give extremely misleading results. This talk will look at the commonly presented avian and reptilian species that may be presented to practitioners. Practical handling and sample taking techniques will be described along with how to handle the sample once taken. The advantages and disadvantages of in-house or external laboratory testing will be discussed. In addition, there will be discussion of when to sample and which samples are indicated in certain presentations. In particular, the clinician should always be aware of whether their sample taking is with a view to gaining a diagnosis (eg renal function in a polyuric animal); prognosis (eg the level of renal dysfunction in an aged thin tortoise); or as background information in the colony (eg. PCR testing of chelonian pharyngeal swabs). Another aspect to be reviewed will be the value of repeat testing, and of the monitoring responses to therapy, eg. monitoring dehydration parameters during/ after fluid therapy.