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Diarrhea: chronic – due to diet
Introduction
- Cause: inappropriate diet, may reflect underlying hypersensitivity.
- Affects dogs of any age.
- Signs: diarrhea +/- pruritus.
- Diagnosis: exclude other causes, dietary exclusion trial.
- Treatment: low fat (but not in every situation), highly digestible diet; exclusion diet if hypersensitivity.
- Prognosis: good if appropriate therapy.
Presenting signs
- Reduced appetite.
- Intractable diarrhea, chronic or intermittent.
- Vomiting Vomiting.
- Pruritus.
- Weight loss.
- Abdominal pain.
Breed/Species predisposition
- Any breed.
Pathogenesis
Etiology
- Inability to digest/absorb diet.
Predisposing factors
General- Unbalanced or poor quality diet
- Cow's milk.
- Proteins - statistically beef, dairy and wheat most common.
Pathophysiology
- True hypersensitivity reaction.
- Food intolerance - deficiency of enzymes needed to digest intraluminal contents, eg lactase deficiency; pharmacological, metabolic or toxic reactions.
- Presence of non-absorbable solutes, eg sorbitol.
Diagnosis
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Treatment
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Prevention
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Outcomes
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Further Reading
Publications
Refereed papers
- Recent references from PubMed and VetMedResource.
- Verlinden A et al (2006) Food allergy in dogs and cats: a review. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 46, 259-273 PubMed.