Deciphering Lab Results

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

I got Clouds lab results and the vet called to discuss them. She said they were pretty good, but pointed out some areas that she'd like us to work on.

1. She said he is a little anemic and would like me to bring him in for a small dosage injection of iron and then check his levels again after about 3 weeks. She said this should raise the level and it stay consistant. If it drops in a few weeks when rechecked, we'll have look into some more causes for the drop.

2. His WBC was a little high and she thinks it may be from the stress of the exam. She suggested bringing him in again for another blood sample and taking it as soon as he gets into the office, before he gets himself stressed out. (I didn't think stress could raise the WBC). I think Cloud would already be stressed for about an hour before I even get to the vets door, what with, getting him into the new travel carrier and a 45 minute car ride.

3. She would also like me to change his diet to pellets. Her reasoning, cooked Bean Cuisine and seed mix are a complete nutritional combination, but if you have a bird that only picks out certain ingredients of it, they are not getting the full nutritional value of the mix. She would also like me to get him to eat 1/2 a almond a day. (I'll probably need a feeding tube for that one.)

4. I didn't have her do a heavy metals test and am now wondering if any of the results might indicate there may be a problem in that area.

5. Still waiting on the DNA sexing result. She says it takes 2 or 3 weeks.

Does anyone have any experience in deciphering these results? What do you think about her advice?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ohhh . . . and as far as alien DNA, the tests were inconclusive. Besides not having an alien sample to compare it to, and the fact that if these aliens have the ability to disguise themselves as birds and conduct tests and studies of their own and report all findings to the Mothership, they've probably got the intelligence and scientific ability to clone human DNA, thus making it impossible at this time to determine that they are, in fact, aliens.


Clouds Lab Results
Avian/Exotic CBC
Hematocrit 39 (LOW) 42-55 %
Blood Parasites Negative
WBC Estimate 14.5 (HIGH) 4.0-10.0 l03/mL
Het/Poly 88 (HIGH) 45-80 %
Absolute Neutrophils 12760
Lymphocytes 10 (LOW) 18-50 %
Absolute Lymphocytes 1450
Monocytes 2 0-3 %
Absolute Monocytes 290
Eosinophils 0 0-2 %
Absolute Eosinophils 0
Basophils 0 0-1 %
Absolute Basophils 0
Morphology Normal
Avian Standard Chemistries
Glucose 230 180-350 mg/dL
Total Protein 3.8 3.0-5.5 g/dL
AST (SGOT) 124 20-350 u/L
Calcium 7.4 (LOW) 7.6-12.0 mg/dL
Phosphorus 1.8 (LOW) 3.0-5.5 mg/dL
CPK 130 50-400 U/L
Uric Acid 4.2 2-10 mg/dL
Gram Stain
Source Feces
Organisms (l000X Field) 50
Gram Positive Rods 98 %
Gram Positive Cocci 2 %
Gram Negative Rods 0 %
Number Yeast 0 %
Budding Yeast 0 %

Comments
INTERPRETIVE COMMENT - - - - -
Less than 20 bacteria per l000-x field is considered a reduced number of bacteria in adult psittacine birds. Gram positive rods and cocci should account for at least 90% of the total bacterial population. Gram negative organisms should account for less than 10% of the total. The presence of budding yeasts may be abnormal. Neonates may normally have a higher % of gram negative rods. Passerine birds normally have low numbers of bacteria.

[too&me]

I found this little bit & can get you the link to this paper if you wish. It does discuss the variations throughout the day in Avian blood composition, { Of the mononuclear cells, the lymphocyte is by far the most common. In fact, in some psittacine species (eg: Amazons, Eclectus) it is the most common leukocyte in the peripheral circulation. 7 Lymphocyte identification can be difficult for several reasons: lymphocytes may be present in three different groups according to size, small lymphocytes may be confused with thrombocytes, and large lymphocytes may resemble monocytes. Normally, most circulating lymphocytes are small or medium in size, round in shape, with a centrally located nucleus, sometimes indented, having densely aggregated chromatin. Medium and large lymphocytes may have obvious reticulated chromatin. The amount of cytoplasm present is typically scant in the small lymphocytes, with progressively more in the larger cells. } link http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/ivcvm/1999/phillips/index.php Thought this was interesting because it mentioned the difficulty of identifying white blood cells in birds, saw another article speaking to the fluctuations in seasonal blood work in Palm cockatoos..

[FoxersArtist]

Let me take a stab at this with the help of wikipedia.

Hematocrit 39 (LOW) 42-55 %
The hematocrit (Ht or HCT) or packed cell volume (PCV) are measures of the proportion of blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood) volume that is occupied by red blood cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_blood_cell). (They determine this test by putting blood into a spinner, which stacks the blood in layers, allowing them to measure the volume of packed blood cells. Anything below 40 typical indicates that a person or animal is anemic and needs iron to rebuild new red blood cells. They run this test on me almost every week. ;) ) Clouds hematocrit showed low at 39 but most drs would consider this borderline anemic.

Avian/Exotic CBC
A complete blood count (CBC), also known as full blood count (FBC) or full blood exam (FBE) or blood panel, is a test requested by a doctor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician) or other medical professional (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_professional) that gives information about the cells in a patient's blood. The cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28biology%29) that circulate in the bloodstream (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood) are generally divided into three types: white blood cells (leukocytes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukocytes)), red blood cells (erythrocytes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrocytes)), and platelets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platelets) or thrombocytes. Abnormally high or low counts may indicate the presence of many forms of disease, and hence blood counts are amongst the most commonly performed blood tests (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_test) in medicine.

Blood Parasites Negative
This is likely what it sounds like. You vet tested Clouds blood to see if there was the presence of any parasites living in his body. The results were negative.

WBC Estimate 14.5 (HIGH) 4.0-10.0 l03/mL
White blood cells, or leukocytes, are cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28biology%29) of the immune system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system) defending the body against both infectious disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infectious_disease) and foreign materials. Several different and diverse types of leukocytes exist, but they are all produced and derived from a multipotent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipotent) cell in the bone marrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow) known as a hematopoietic stem cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematopoietic_stem_cell). Leukocytes are found throughout the body, including the blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood) and lymphatic system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphatic_system).
The number of leukocytes in the blood is often an indicator of disease. There are normally between 4×109 and 11×109 white blood cells in a liter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liter) of blood, making up approximately 1% of blood in a healthy adult.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_blood_cell#_note-alberts_table) In conditions such as leukemia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukemia) the number of leukocytes is higher than normal, and in leukopenia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukopenia) this number is much lower. The physical properties of leukocytes, such as volume, conductivity, and granularity, may change due to activation, the presence of immature cells, or the presence of malignant leukocytes in leukemia. (Cloud has a high white blood cell count by 4.5 l03/mL which may or may not indicate possible infection.)

[FoxersArtist]

Het/Poly 88 (HIGH) 45-80 %
No idea what this one means, sorry. Cloud's results were 88%. Normal range was between 45-80%.

Absolute Neutrophils 12760
Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is a measure of the number of neutrophil granulocytes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrophil_granulocytes) (also known as polymorphonuclear cells, PMN's, polys, granulocytes, segmented neutrophils or segs) present in the blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood). Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_blood_cell) that fights against infection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infection).
The ANC is calculated from measurements of the total number of white blood cells (WBC), usually based on the combined percentage of mature neutrophils (sometimes called "segs," or segmented cells) and bands, which are immature neutrophils.
A normal ANC is above 1,500 cells per microliter. An ANC less than 500 cells/µL is defined as neutropenia and significantly increases the risk of infection. Neutropenia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutropenia) is the condition of a low ANC, and the most common condition where an ANC would be measured is in the setting of chemotherapy for cancer. Neutropenia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutropenia) increases the risk of infection.

Lymphocytes 10 (LOW) 18-50 % Absolute Lymphocytes 1450
A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_blood_cell) in the vertebrate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrate) immune system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system). By their appearance under the light microscope, there are two broad categories of lymphocytes, namely the large granular lymphocytes and the small lymphocytes. Functionally distinct subsets of lymphocytes correlate with their appearance. Most, but not all large granular lymphocytes are more commonly known as the natural killer cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_killer_cell) (NK cells). The small lymphocytes are the T cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_cell) and B cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_cell). Lymphocytes play an important and integral role in the body's defenses. An average human body contains about 1012 lymphoid cells, and the lymphoid tissue as a whole represents about 2% of the total body weight. (Clouds lymphocyte count came back low at 10% whereas a normal range is 18-50%)

Monocytes 2 0-3 % Absolute Monocytes 290
A monocyte is a leukocyte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukocyte), part of the human body (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body)'s immune system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system) that protects against blood-borne pathogens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogens) and moves quickly (aprox. 8-12 hours) to sites of infection in the tissues. Monocytes are usually identified in stained smears by their large bilobate nucleus.
Monocytes are produced by the bone marrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow) from hamatopoietic stem cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hamatopoietic_stem_cell&action=edit) precursors called monoblasts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoblast). Monocytes circulate in the bloodstream for about one to three days and then typically move into tissues throughout the body. They constitute between three to eight percent of the leukocytes in the blood. In the tissues monocytes mature into different types of macrophages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrophages) at different anatomical locations.
Monocytes are responsible for phagocytosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phagocytosis) (ingestion) of foreign substances in the body. Monocytes can perform phagocytosis using intermediary (opsonising (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opsonization)) proteins such as antibodies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody) or complement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complement_system) that coat the pathogen, as well as by binding to the microbe directly via pattern-recognition receptors that recognize pathogens. Monocytes are also capable of killing infected host cells via antibody, termed antibody-mediated cellular cytotoxicity. Vacuolization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuolization) may be present in a cell that has recently phagocytized foreign matter.
Monocytes which migrate from the bloodstream to other tissues are called macrophages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrophage). Macrophages are responsible for protecting tissues from foreign substances but are also suspected to be the predominant cells involved in triggering atherosclerosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherosclerosis). They are cells that possess a large smooth nucleus, a large area of cytoplasm and many internal vesicles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesicle) for processing foreign material. (Clouds test for monocytes came back within a normal range.)

[FoxersArtist]

Eosinophils 0 0-2 % Absolute Eosinophils 0
Eosinophil granulocytes, commonly referred to as eosinophils (or less commonly as acidophils), are white blood cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_blood_cell) of the immune system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system) that are responsible for combating infection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infection) and parasites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasite) in vertebrates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrate). They also control mechanisms associated with allergy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy) and asthma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthma). They are granulocytes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granulocyte) that develop in the bone marrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow) before migrating into blood.
These cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28biology%29) are eosinophilic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eosinophilic) or 'acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid)-loving': normally transparent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparent), they appear brick-red when stained (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stained) with eosin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eosin), a dye (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dye), using the Romanowsky method (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanowsky_stain). The staining is concentrated in small granules (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granule_%28cell_biology%29) within the cellular cytoplasm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoplasm), which contain many chemical mediators, such as histamine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histamine) and proteins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein) such as eosinophil peroxidase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peroxidase), RNase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNase), DNases (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNase), lipase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipase), plasminogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasminogen), and Major Basic Protein (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Basic_Protein). These mediators are released by a process called degranulation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degranulation) following activation of the eosinophil, and are toxic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxin) to both parasite and host tissues.
Eosinophils make up about 1-6% of white blood cells, and are about 12-17 micrometers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometre) in size.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eosinophils#_note-0) They are found in the medulla (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medulla) and the junction between the cortex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortex_%28anatomy%29) and medulla of the thymus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thymus), and in the lower gastrointestinal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrointestinal) tract, ovary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovary), uterus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uterus), spleen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spleen), and lymph nodes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph_nodes), but not in the lung (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung), skin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin), esophagus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esophagus), or some other internal organs under normal conditions. The presence of eosinophils in these latter organs is associated with disease. Eosinophils persist in the circulation for 8-12 hours, and can survive in tissue for an additional 8-12 days in the absence of stimulation. (Clouds results for this test appear to be normal.)

Basophils 0 0-1 % Absolute Basophils 0
Basophils are the least common of the granulocytes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granulocyte), representing about 0.01% to 0.3% of circulating leukocytes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukocyte) (white blood cells). They contain large cytoplasmic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoplasm) granules which obscure the cell nucleus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_nucleus) under the microscope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microscope). However, when unstained (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microscopy), the nucleus is visible and it usually has 2 lobes (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lobe). The mast cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mast_cell), a cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28biology%29) in tissues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_tissue), has many similar characteristics. For example, both cell types store histamine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histamine), a chemical that is secreted by the cells when stimulated in certain ways (histamine causes some of the symptoms of an allergic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy) reaction). Like all circulating granulocytes, basophils can be recruited out of the blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood) into a tissue when needed. (Clouds results are normal.)

Morphology Normal

The term morphology in biology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology) refers to the outward appearance (shape, structure, colour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour), pattern) of an organism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organism) or taxon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxon) and its component parts. This is in contrast to physiology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiology), which deals primarily with function.
Also in use is the term "gross morphology", which refers to the prominent or principal aspects of an organism or taxon's morphology. A description of an organism's gross morphology would include, for example, its overall shape, overall colour, main markings etc. but not finer details.
Most taxa differ morphologically from other taxa. Typically closely related taxa differ much less than more distantly related ones, but there are exceptions to this. Cryptic species (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_species) are species which look very similar, or perhaps even outwardly identical, but are reproductively isolated. Conversely, sometimes unrelated taxa acquire similar appearance through convergent evolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_evolution) or even through mimicry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimicry). A further problem with relying on morphological data is that what may appear, morphologically speaking, to be two distinct species, may in fact be shown by DNA analysis to be a single species. (This is what I could come up with but this information may not be correct, since these are obviously blood test results. Sorry!)

[FoxersArtist]

Avian Standard Chemistries
Can someone help me out? I would be curious to know too.

Glucose 230 180-350 mg/dL
(Blood sugar)
Two stereoisomers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoisomerism) of the aldohexose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldohexose) sugars are known as glucose, only one of which (D-glucose) is biologically active. This form (D-glucose) is often referred to as dextrose monohydrate, or, especially in the food industry, simply dextrose (from dextrorotatory glucose (Cloud's blood sugar is within normal range.)

Total Protein 3.8 3.0-5.5 g/dL
Serum total protein, also called plasma total protein or total protein, is a biochemical (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_chemistry) test for measuring the total amount of protein (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein) in blood plasma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_plasma) or serum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serum).
Protein in the plasma is made up of albumin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serum_albumin) and globulin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globulin). The globulin in turn is made up of α1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_1_globulins), α2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_2_globulins), β (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_globulins), and γ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_globulins) globulins. These fractions can be quantitated using protein electrophoresis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_electrophoresis), but the total protein test is a faster and cheaper test that estimates the total of all fractions together. The traditional method for measuring total protein uses the biuret reagent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biuret_reagent), but other chemical methods are now available. The measurement is usually performed on automated analysers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_analyser) along with other laboratory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_laboratory) tests. (Cloud
s protein levels are normal.)

AST (SGOT) 124 20-350 u/L
AST (SGOT) is commonly measured clinically as a part of diagnostic liver function tests (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_function_tests), to determine liver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver) health.
Aspartate transaminase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transaminase) (AST) also called serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) or aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT/AAT) (EC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EC_number) 2.6.1.1 (http://www.expasy.org/cgi-bin/nicezyme.pl?2.6.1.1)) is similar to alanine transaminase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alanine_transaminase) (ALT) in that it is another enzyme associated with liver parenchymal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parenchymal) cells. It facilitates the conversion of aspartate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartate) and alpha-ketoglutarate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-ketoglutarate) to oxaloacetate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxaloacetate) and glutamate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamate). (Cloud is normal.)

Calcium 7.4 (LOW) 7.6-12.0 mg/dL
(Your vet tested Cloud's blood to see what his calcium levels were. 7.6-12.0 grams per litre is normal. Cloud's levels were low at 7.4 grams per litre. Does cloud chew on a cuttle bone at all? Mashing one up into some scrambled eggs may help.)

[FoxersArtist]

Phosphorus 1.8 (LOW) 3.0-5.5 mg/dL
Phosphorus is a component of DNA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA) and RNA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA) and an essential element for all living cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_cell).
(Same as the calcium test, phosphorus should be between 3.0-5.5 grams per litre and clouds were low at 1,8 grams per litre.)

CPK 130 50-400 U/L
(I strike out on this one. Looks like whatever it is, cloud is normal.)

Uric Acid 4.2 2-10 mg/dL
Uric acid (or urate) is an organic compound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound) of carbon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon), nitrogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen), oxygen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen) and hydrogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen) with the formula C5H4N4O3. (They run this test to check for things like gout, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic problems, etc. More uric acid is produced by meat eating animals. Cloud's level is perfectly normal.)

Gram Stain
Gram staining (or Gram's method) is an empirical (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism) method of differentiating bacterial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterium) species into two large groups (Gram-positive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram-positive) and Gram-negative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram-negative)) based on the chemical and physical properties of their cell walls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_wall).
Gram stains are performed on body fluid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fluid) or biopsy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopsy) when infection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infection) is suspected. It yields results much more quickly than culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbiological_culture), and is especially important when infection would make an important difference in the patient's treatment and prognosis; examples are cerebrospinal fluid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebrospinal_fluid) for meningitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meningitis) and synovial fluid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synovial_fluid) for septic arthritis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septic_arthritis).[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_stain#_note-Sherris)[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_stain#_note-0)
As a general rule of thumb (which has exceptions), Gram-negative bacteria are more pathogenic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogen) due to their outer membrane structure. The presence of a capsule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_%28microbiology%29) will often increase the virulence of a pathogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogen). Additionally, Gram-negative bacteria have lipopolysaccharide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipopolysaccharide) in their outer membrane, an endotoxin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endotoxin) which increases the severity of inflammation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammation). This inflammation may be so severe that septic shock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septic_shock) may occur. Gram-positive infections are generally less severe because the human body does not contain peptidoglycan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peptidoglycan); in fact, humans produce an enzyme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzyme) (lysozyme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysozyme)) that attacks the open peptidoglycan layer of Gram-positive bacteria. Gram-positive bacteria are also frequently much more susceptible to beta-lactam antibiotics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-lactam_antibiotic), such as penicillin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin).
Exceptions to the rule include branching and filamentous Gram-positive bacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycobacterium_tuberculosis) and other agents of tuberculosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis), or Nocardia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocardia) species, the agents of nocardiosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocardiosis) and some types of actinomycetoma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actinomycetoma). These organisms present unique problems in diagnosis and treatment, and special stains such as the Ziehl-Neelsen stain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziehl-Neelsen_stain) and the Kinyoun stain (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kinyoun_stain&action=edit) are used in their laboratory workup.

Source Feces
(Probably similar to the above.)

Organisms (l000X Field) 50
(Someone else will have to help me out with this one as well.)

Gram Positive Rods 98 %
Gram Positive Cocci 2 %
Gram Negative Rods 0 %
Number Yeast 0 %
Budding Yeast 0 %
(All of these results are normal. Gram positive bacteria is beneficial bacteria and is needed to help keep Cloud's body balanced. Negative bacteria is the kind that causes infection and it looks like cloud's testing was normal for negative bacteria. There were also no signs of yeast or yeast infection.)

Good luck in finding out whats going on when Cloud goes back to the vet.
-Anna

[FoxersArtist]

Most of that info was written with humans in mind so some things may vary in the avian world of medicine. But hey...birds are people too, right? Sorry for taking up so much room...just thought it was all so interesting....if you have an hour or so! LOL!
-Anna

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

Thank you, Me&Too and Anna. I found both your responses very informative. Since none of the results are too far from what considered a normal range, the vet didn't seem too concerned and that is a relief.

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

Just got the results of Clouds DNA sexing. IT's a boy!
When I told him the results, he gave that 'I could have told you that' look, grabbed a bottle of beer, the remote, and flopped his birdie butt on the couch.

[too&me]

Does he watch reruns of Third Rock?:alien:

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

I think Mork and Mindy are more his style.:alien:

[TikiTalks]

I think Mork and Mindy are more his style.:alien:
nanu nanu, shazbot! :yahoo::agree:

[too&me]

Oh my all of our aliens are sychronized!