Gastroenterology

Veterinary Gastroenterology

Gastrointestinal clinical signs are a frequent reason for visiting the veterinarian.

Often, clinical signs are not evident during the consultation, so collecting the medical history is a crucial part of the diagnosis, and this information is provided by the owner.

The medical history includes details about the signalment, as some diseases are typical of certain breeds or are more commonly found in young animals (e.g., parasitic infections or ingestion of foreign bodies); the environment (urban or rural); and the type of diet (commercial or homemade).

The initial aim of the consultation is to determine the actual severity of the pathological processes in progress to manage high-risk clinical conditions (e.g., pancreatitis or hypoalbuminaemia in protein-losing enteropathies) effectively.

Symptoms and remedies

The most common symptoms of gastrointestinal diseases may involve the oesophagus (dysphagia, regurgitation), the stomach (vomiting), the small or large intestine (diarrhoea, flatulence, bloating, constipation, weight loss...).

Abdominal palpation aims to locate areas of pain (e.g., cranial abdomen in cases of pancreatitis) or detect changes in the volume or consistency of organs, particularly noticeable in thin cats or dogs.

Various patients may respond to dietary changes. The diagnosis of food allergy enteropathy is confirmed through dietary trials using, depending on the case, hypoallergenic or highly digestible commercial diets (hydrolysed proteins), selected protein commercial diets, and elimination homemade diets.

Once these initial assessments are made, blood tests can be performed to identify whether the issue directly involves gastrointestinal causes or other factors (e.g., metabolic or endocrine diseases), as well as diagnostic imaging tests (X-rays or ultrasounds). In some cases, an endoscopic examination (under general anaesthesia) may be required to collect biopsy samples or remove foreign bodies.