key: cord-258066-ncuegrq7 authors: nan title: Inflammatory Bowel Disease date: 2013-12-31 journal: Clinical Veterinary Advisor DOI: 10.1016/b978-1-4160-3969-3.00215-8 sha: doc_id: 258066 cord_uid: ncuegrq7 nan Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a poorly defined and often incorrectly used term in ferrets and other small animals for a systemic inflammatory disease primarily involving the gastrointestinal tract. Clinical disease results from dysregulation of the mucosal immune response. The umbrella term IBD used in ferrets and other small animals for a variety of gastrointestinal diseases is not the same disease that is seen in humans. Clinical signs, origin, endoscopic features, and histopathologic features are very different from those seen in humans. Continued use of the term IBD for these diseases in small animals is a source of frustration and confusion to clinicians and pathologists alike. • Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis • Incorrectly used synonyms: antibiotic responsive enteritis, eosinophilic enteritis or eosinophilic gastroenteritis, epizootic catarrhal enteritis, food allergy, gluten hypersensitivity, lymphoplasmacytic enteritis, proliferative bowel disease or colitis • Ferrets have been reported incorrectly to be susceptible to IBD. • True IBD is rare in small animals. • Cotton-top tamarins are natural animal models of human IBD. • Ferrets are susceptible to several gastrointestinal inflammatory conditions that have erroneously been placed under the umbrella term of IBD. • Identifying the cause of the ferret IBD will determine the appropriate treatment. colitis, immune suppression is the mainstay of treatment. • Immunosuppressive agents that nonspecifically reduce inflammation and immunity have been the mainstay of conventional therapies for IBD. • Novel protein diets for 2 weeks or more to eliminate food intolerance or allergy (also try hydrolyzed peptide based diet); antibiotics (metronidazole 10-15 mg/kg PO q 12-24 h; tylosin 25 mg/kg PO q 12-24 h; tetracycline 20-25 mg q 8-12 h) to modify intestinal microflora; steroidal antiinflammatories (prednisone 2 mg/kg PO q 24 h initially for 1-2 weeks, then taper dose by half every 2 weeks), or immune suppressives (azathioprine 0.9 mg/kg PO q 24-72 h) are often used when a cause of IBD in ferrets cannot be determined. Care should be taken to differentiate chronic IBD in ferrets from early intestinal lymphoma. • The prognosis varies depending on the cause of the ferret IBD. • Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are lifelong systemic diseases with recurrent flare-ups. • IBD is a clinical syndrome for which it is difficult to develop a valid, objective histologic counterpart, and it should be a diagnosis of last resort, made by the clinician after alternatives such as food intolerance, motility disorders, and infectious disease have been ruled out. • The pathophysiology resulting in IBD, the basis for phenotypic variation and the mechanism for unpredictable response to treatment are not known. • The thoroughness of the clinical and laboratory investigation before endoscopic biopsy is used is influenced by the amount of time and money available to evaluate what are often elusive functional entities. Endoscopic biopsies are often done early, after symptomatic medical therapy (see Acute General Treatment) has failed to control clinical signs. • It is not appropriate for a pathologist to issue a diagnosis of "inflammatory bowel disease." It is more appropriate to list the histologic findings, and to indicate that the changes could be "compatible with" a clinical diagnosis of that syndrome. • Chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory disease in ferrets is not always cured. • Emphasize that treatment is aimed at controlling clinical signs. Clinical immunology and immunopathology of the canine and feline intestine Alimentary and peritoneum Overview of biologic therapy for Crohn's disease Inflammatory bowel disease-live transmission Inflammatory bowel disease in veterinary medicine Treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in dogs and cats Helicobacter mustelae-Associated Gastritis and Ulcers Hepatobiliary Disease Proliferative Bowel Disease Salmonellosis (Section VI)