Hyponatremia the underlying cause of hyponatremia. A blood test demonstrating a serum sodium less than 135 mmol/L is diagnostic for hyponatremia. The history and physical exam are necessary to help determine if the patient is hypovolemic, euvolemic, or hypervolemic, which has important implications in determining the underlying cause. An assessment is also made to determine if the patient is experiencing symptoms from their hyponatremia. These include assessments of alertness, concentration, and orientation. False hyponatremia, also known as spurious, pseudo, hypertonic, or artifactual hyponatremia is when the lab tests read low sodium levels but there is no hypotonicity. In hypertonic hyponatremia, resorption
Blood type (non-human) Ideally, cross-matching should be performed prior to transfusion, or a universal donor may be used. The ideal universal whole blood donor is a non-thoroughbred gelding that is Aa, Ca, and Qa negative. If this is not available, a gelding, preferably of the same breed as the patient, may be used as a donor, and cross-matching may be crudely accessed by mixing donor serum with patient blood. If the mixture agglutinates, the donor blood contains antibodies against the blood of the patient, and should not be used. The polymorphic systems in cattle include the A, B, C, F, J, L, M,