AKC Canine Health Foundation - 19

Canine Chronic Enteropathies - Subgroups, Diagnosis and
Treatment
Karin Allenspach, Dr.med.vet. FVH, DECVIM-CA, PhD, FHEA,
RCVS, AGAF
Iowa State University
BIOGRAPHY
Karin Allenspach received her veterinary degree from the
University of Zurich. She did an internship in small animal
emergency medicine and critical care at Tufts University and a
residency in small animal internal medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania and is a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She
was awarded a PhD in veterinary immunology from the University of Bern, Switzerland for her
work on canine chronic enteropathies. Karin has published >125 peer-reviewed publications
and has a current H factor of 41. She is currently employed as Professor in Internal Medicine
and Translational Health at Iowa State University, Ames, USA and is a PI of the SMART
Translational medicine Lab at ISU, which focuses on the development and culture of adult stem
stem-cell-derived organoids from various species. Her latest efforts have resulted in the
founding of a start-up company (3D Health Solutions, Inc.) with the goal of commercializing
assays for drug screening based on organoid methods.
PRESENTATION ABSTRACT
The diagnosis of canine CE is one of exclusion and a full diagnostic work-up needs to be done
to rule out all known causes of GI inflammation. There are guidelines as to how these cases
should ideally be worked up which have been widely adopted and will be discussed, including
information on which tests are most useful in clinical practice. If the results of these tests do not
point to an obvious cause for the clinical signs, then a well conducted therapeutic trial with diet
can be attempted. We will discuss which diets are appropriate to use and what outcomes can
be expected. If the dog does not respond to dietary treatment alone, intestinal biopsies for
histopathology are collected before possible treatment with immunosuppressive treatment is
attempted. We will discuss what options for immunosuppressives are available, as well as show
some novel data on why antibiotics should be avoided for the treatment of CE in dogs.
2023 National Parent Club Canine Health Conference
Presented by the AKC Canine Health Foundation and Nestlé Purina PetCare

AKC Canine Health Foundation

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