ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the clinical techniques used in diagnostic testing and administering treatment. The limited range of physical responses to disease that is available to birds, and their relatively small size, has increased the requirement for diagnostic testing in order to better diagnose disease and provide an appropriate treatment. There are a number of haematological, biochemical, serological and polymerase chain reaction tests available for avian veterinarians to utilise in the care of their patients. Blood can be collected from the right jugular vein, the basilic vein or the medial tibiotarsal vein. Many clients are surprised at how much blood can be safely collected from a bird. The blood volume in any given bird is approximately 10% of its bodyweight. Biochemistry testing is usually best performed on blood that has been collected into lithium heparin. If testing is likely to be delayed for anything more than a few hours, it should be centrifuged and the plasma decanted and submitted.
