Clinical pathology - 2026 Animal ForensiCon with Dr. Laurie Millward

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Dr. G:

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So we had an amazing lecture

on clinical pathology.

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From Ohio State, Dr.

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Laurie Millward, thank you

so much for being here.

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Dr. Laurie Millward, DACVP:

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Well, thanks for having me.

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Dr. G:

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So for anybody that doesn't know

who you are, can you let them

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know about what brought you here?

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Dr. Laurie Millward, DACVP:

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Um, my name's Laurie Millward, and I'm a

clinical assistant professor in clinical

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pathology at Ohio State University.

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Um, I work as a clinical pathologist,

and I teach veterinary students

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and our trainees in our program.

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Um, but I also have a lot of experience

in shelter medicine and field work, um,

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outreach medicine and clinical practice.

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Dr. G:

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Awesome.

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So I guess the first question, just

because I think that a lot of people

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think of pathology, and they just

think of, like, necropsies, like

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exams, and they don't understand.

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Yeah.

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So what is clinical pathology?

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Dr. Laurie Millward, DACVP:

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That's a great question.

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So, um, clinical pathology is basically

looking at laboratory samples.

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If we were to equate it to human

medicine, we are hematologists basically,

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so we look at a lot of blood work.

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We look at a lot of blood chemistry

values, looking at electrolytes, um, how

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are organs functioning within the animals.

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And honestly, we see samples from

more live patients than animals

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that have already passed, as my

anatomic pathology friends do.

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We look at cytology samples,

so fine needle aspirates, joint

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fluid, cerebrospinal fluid.

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All of those things, um, we look at on

a daily basis to help the clinicians

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that see 'em in the hospital make better

decisions about, you know, what the next

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test should be or what kind of treatment

plan we should get for those animals.

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Dr. G:

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What kind of information can, can you

get from animals, for instance, from

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neglect cases, like animal hoarding and

in some cases, like dog fighting cases?

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Dr. Laurie Millward, DACVP:

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Yeah, we, we can actually

get a lot of information.

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And so one of the things that

if we have the resources for for

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these cases is to obtain these

samples as soon as we possibly can.

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Basically, as soon as they come into

our facility, we wanna grab blood

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samples on them so that we can assess

what their red blood cell counts are,

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what their white blood cell counts are.

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And also look at, um, other parameters

such as protein levels and electrolyte

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levels that they are presenting

to us right from scene with.

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And what that does is it not only helps

us take better care of the animals once

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they're in our shelter, but it also helps

us determine further evidence that helps

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us show that the animal was neglected.

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Maybe it wasn't provided with enough

food or enough water or maybe there

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were signs of abuse or failure to

provide medical care to that animal,

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so, so they ended up developing these

medical conditions, um, that we can

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actually detect through blood work.

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Dr. G:

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And we can use these results also

to identify if they're responding to

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treatment and to just further prove

that it was malnutrition and it was

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not, like, a disease process, right?

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Dr. Laurie Millward, DACVP:

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Exactly, and that is actually one of the

coolest things about shelter medicine,

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is being able to show that as long

as these animals get basic care, so

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water, food, a balanced diet, and just

shelter, they end up correcting these

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abnormalities that they present with.

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And we can see these values in their blood

work go back to normal over time, which

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is, which is a wonderful thing to be able

to show in court that nothing special was

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needed by these animals to get better.

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It was just basic care.

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And it's, it just provides another

element of evidence in the case

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that helps, um, prove that,

that neglect or abuse happened.

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Dr. G:

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I'm very grateful in the fact that I,

I have access to individuals like you.

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You know, I can send out samples,

and we can do a lot of analysis,

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but I know that I hear from a lot of

especially, like, rural, um, shelters-

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Yeah ... that do not have a lot of money.

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So if they don't have a lot of

funds, can they still use clinical

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pathology to help their cases?

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Dr. Laurie Millward, DACVP:

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That is a great, great, um,

question, so the answer is yes.

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Um, you don't have to have a lot of money.

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You don't have to run a full

complete blood, blood count or

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CBC or chemistry on these animals.

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Really, all you need is

a PCV and a total solids.

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PCV is a packed cell volume, which

is where we just take a little

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bit of blood in a tiny tube.

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We spin it down, and we can see if the

animal's anemic or if they're dehydrated.

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We can tell from those results.

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And then if you can make a blood

smear, all you need is a glass slide

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and a drop of blood, and you look

at it underneath the microscope.

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And you can tell so much about the

animal's health and wellbeing just

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based on those, um, easy-to-do,

cheap, and inexpensive things.

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Dr. G:

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So anybody that, like veterinarians

and technicians in shelters that

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wanna get better at looking at these

slides and stuff- Yeah ... what

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resources are there for them?

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Dr. Laurie Millward, DACVP:

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So I would first recommend

getting a good hematology book.

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So there are many out there.

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They have a lot of good resources on how

to look at a blood smear, what you're

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looking for, how to estimate platelet

count, white blood cell count, that

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sort of thing, just from a blood smear.

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But then also doing things like CE.

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So going to, um, blood smear wet labs

and, and practicing making a blood

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smear, reading a blood smear and

stuff can give you a lot of really

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good, uh, experience and information

on how to look at those things.

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Dr. G:

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Excellent.

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This is amazing.

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Thank you for what you're doing.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for being here, and thank

you for sharing all this with us.

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Dr. Laurie Millward, DACVP:

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Well, thanks for interviewing me.