What does blood test prove? Liver or heart health?

[crazyforfeathers]

Hi everyone. I took my adult conure for a wellness exam today. No issues, I just wanted to make sure fatty liver and poor heart are not problems. My A-Vet recommended a blood and culture test. I forgot to ask him which of these will determine liver and heart health. Is it the blood test?

 

[IndySE]

It should, yes. With conures I believe they run a mini panel (with larger parrots they run larger ones since they can take more blood). The panels usually tell the vets general information about their organ health. The culture test will indicate any fungus/yeast/bacteria the bird has caught.

 

[EllenD]

Part of a routine blood work panel is a "Liver Panel" and also should include a "Kidney Panel", which will show both liver function and kidney function. There are various other, individual tests that make-up a routine blood work-up that will confirm or rule-out infection, blood and cardiac issues, etc. You should ask your specific Avian Vet EXACTLY what individual blood tests he usually orders as a part of his routine work-ups, as he may order individual tests that some don't, and that test specific levels...

The other thing you need to keep in-mind is that if this is your bird's very first blood work-up, it is going to serve as a "Baseline" to compare his future blood work results to, as he gets older. These future results in comparison to his "Baseline" results will also be a determining factor throughout his life and as he ages as to his overall cardiac health. So it's always a very good idea to get a routine blood work-up done when they are younger and totally healthy, because whereas you can directly test for Fatty Liver Disease as a part of the Liver-Function Panel and for Kidney Disease as a part of the Kidney-Function Panel, cardiac health on the other-hand consists of many, many different levels that can change over-time as the bird ages. If your bird was exhibiting a specific sign/symptom that was indicative of a specific cardiac issue, your CAV would run other, specific blood tests to determine what might be going on, such as ordering a Cardiac Enzyme test...but since he's healthy right now and not exhibiting any specific signs or symptoms of a specific cardiac issue, and you're just looking to get an overall-picture of his cardiac health, all of the individual tests that make-up a routine blood panel come together to give you the whole picture of his cardiac health...

Cultures, usually Fecal Cultures, are going to give you an overall picture of his GI Health, which with birds is extremely important, as they often suffer from both Bacterial and Fungal infections throughout their GI Tracts for quite a long time before we recognize any signs that there is a problem at all (birds instinctively hide all outward signs of illness and pain as a survival technique). So your CAV suggesting a Fecal Culture is a very, very good idea.

The only other test that I would recommend and that my own CAV does as a part of my bird's yearly Wellness Exams is a plain-film x-ray showing their heart, lungs, air sacs, and abdominal/pelvic areas. This can show things like an enlarged heart, lung infections or growths, air sac issues, etc.

 

[SailBoat]

Truly great information provided above. We use the five quarters (1.25 year) testing as this will rotate your yearly around the calendar and provide a look at the minor variations that maybe be normal for your Parrot during different quarters of the year. Within a short five years you have testing in each quarter of the year. FYI: We ask for a copy of the test results and Vet Notes for each test and visit then keep them as part of our Amazon's home /travel emergency medical kit. While traveling, when (not if) we run into a health issue, the found Avian Care Clinic, we have current records on-hand!


Enjoy!

 

[crazyforfeathers]

Great information and advice, thank you! This would be my conure's 2nd blood work and 3rd culture test. I get to have copies of the actual lab test so I have them all in file

Thanks again!