Farm animal diagnostic tools

Several diagnostic tools are available to compliment physical examination of bovine patients, thereby narrowing down the list of differential diagnoses or shifting a tentative diagnosis to a definite one. A lot of information can readily be obtained from cow-side evaluation of samples, backed up by additional laboratory examination where indicated. This article summarises techniques and interpretation of useful diagnostic aids, including abdominocentesis, rumen fluid analysis, liver biopsy, cerebro-spinal fluid analysis, and urinalysis.