Nuts in the Shell?

[LittleWing]

Got the email! Here are the results of the chem panel and hematology
The comments for bile acid say "reference range for bile acids in this species has not been established"



Hematology

[Wolf]

Your bird is a Black Headed Caique, Latin name Pionites Melanocephalus according to my avian medical book by Greg J. Harrison DVM the reference range for bile acids in the Pionus is 14=60. So even if your vet or his lab did not know the reference range for this species there should still be a measurement of the bile acids, I would think.

Perhaps it would be a good time to consider this vets qualifications, I know that I would.

[LittleWing]

So how would I interpret the results? Is low good or bad?

[Pajarita]

Yes, those bile acids are waaayyyyy too low! And, when it comes to bile acids, high is bad but low is worse! I don't know... there seems to be something out of whack with the test because too many things are too low: phosphorus, total protein, albumin, globulin, and BUN. Then the CPK is HUGELY out of range at 1014 (range is 40 to 500!!!) while the calcium, which they said was too low, is actually normal. And they are not giving percentages of the cells...

Is this an actual avian vet and was the sample sent to an avian lab?

[Navre]

Tanya's June of '15 tests showed a Bile Acid level of 255.6. Normal was listed as 0-50. So it seems like they're not concerned with low numbers, if 0 is normal.

This was run at Avianexoticlab.com

[LittleWing]

I should see if I can find my other birds labs and compare them. I know ranges can vary from lab to lab.
I took him to the exotic animal clinic at UC Davis veterinary hospital. The doctor we saw specialized in avian medicine.

[Wolf]

I am still new enough to sharing my home with birds that I don't yet know what all of these medical results mean or how to interpret them, but I do keep looking and studying a lot trying to understand. It is one of the primary reasons that I am here trying to learn and to share what I do learn.

[Pajarita]

Tanya's June of '15 tests showed a Bile Acid level of 255.6. Normal was listed as 0-50. So it seems like they're not concerned with low numbers, if 0 is normal.

This was run at Avianexoticlab.com

I've never heard of bile acids normal range starting at zero and, if you think about it, it would make no sense whatsoever because bile acids are something the liver produces normally which, along with bile, break down fats so, if there was none whatsoever, the body could not function right (and that is also the reason why below normal is worse than above normal).

What I think is that, maybe, they used zero as representative of the low normal in the range and start counting from there... a method I don't like because they are not telling you what range they are actually using as different species have different 'normals'.

I don't think there are actual ranges determined for all the species but I have the ones below as reference and, as you can see, they all have an actual value as starting point for the 'normal' range and, going by this chart, a 3 for a caique is worrisome because it says that she is not producing enough which implies severe liver malfunction UNLESS they are doing something like your lab did.

Determination Bile Acids (umol/L)

Af Grey.......13.7-73.6
Amazon......10.3-79.3
Caique........11.8-56.7
Cockatiel.....11.7-80.7
Cockatoo.....10.3-79.1
Conure..........8.3-85.2
Eclectus........9.7-8 7.5
Jardine’s..... 10.2-61.7
Lorikeet........9.5-71.2
Lory.............9.3-80.2
Lovebird........8.5-77.1
Macaw..........7.6-60.0
Meyer..........11.5-76.9
Pionus...........6.1-62.7
Quaker..........9.6-83.2
Senegal........13.8-87.4

[LittleWing]

Found this really informative article that talks about lab tests on birds.
It explains the physiology behind various things including bile acids (page 10)
As well as the effects of high / low test results.

http://avianmedicine.net/content/uploads/2013/03/11.pdf

[Pajarita]

Yes, that is one of the references we use. There are newer ones, of course, but this one is still pretty useful and the best thing about it is that is free (avian medicine text books are expensive!).