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. 2022 Jun 9;12(12):1507.
doi: 10.3390/ani12121507.

Chronic Enteropathy in Dogs-Epidemiologic Aspects and Clinical Characteristics of Dogs Presenting at Two Swedish Animal Hospitals

Affiliations

Chronic Enteropathy in Dogs-Epidemiologic Aspects and Clinical Characteristics of Dogs Presenting at Two Swedish Animal Hospitals

Johanna Holmberg et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Information about prevalence and breed predisposition of canine chronic enteropathy (CE) is limited. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate period prevalence, breed disposition, clinical features, diagnostic results, and treatment response of CE in dogs presenting at two Swedish animal hospitals during 2013−2018. A medical record search was performed to identify CE dogs including those with ≥3 visits because of gastrointestinal disease and/or that had undergone gastroduodenoscopy/colonoscopy during 2013−2018. Dog characteristics, case history, physical examination, laboratory variables, therapeutic protocol, and treatment response were recorded. Inclusion criteria for CE were met by 814 dogs. Period prevalence of CE was 1.1% of total number of dogs. Breeds with the highest relative risk included Norwegian Lundehund, West Highland White Terrier, and Miniature Poodle. Median age at presentation was 3.8 (IQR 1.8−6.8) years. French Bulldogs and Miniature Schnauzers presented at a younger age (<2.5 years) compared to other breeds (p < 0.05). In a subset of dogs, serum hypoalbuminemia (116/662, 17.5%), hypocobalaminemia (98/647, 15.1%), and increased C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations (145/267, 54.3%) were diagnosed. Treatment outcome was classified in 72.9% of dogs and characterized as immunosuppressant-responsive (55.2%), food-responsive (11.4%), non-responsive (5.2%), and antibiotic-responsive (1.1%). Non-responsive dogs were more likely to present with anemia hypoproteinemia/albuminemia, increased CRP, and ascites (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the prevalence of dogs with CE at Swedish hospitals agreed with earlier reports, but risk breeds differed slightly and, compared to other breeds, a younger age of CE onset was found in two breeds. The largest proportion of dogs was immunosuppressant-responsive and the smallest antibiotic-responsive.

Keywords: Sweden; canine; chronic enteropathy; clinical study; prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart describing the establishment of the final study population of 814 dogs and number of individual dogs that had undergone specific tests in this group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot showing the relative risk of chronic enteropathy (CE) and 95% confidence intervals breeds represented by ≥10 dogs in the dataset. See statistical methods for details and notice the logarithmically transformed x-axis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Bar graph that illustrates the characteristics of dogs in the NRE outcome group contrasted to the dogs belonging to the other treatment outcome groups (FRE, IRE, ARE, and non-classified outcome group).

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