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Discover the challenges and insights of traveling emergency veterinarians, as they navigate the evolving landscape of emergency veterinary medicine.

Behind the crash cart: A nationwide look through the eyes of traveling ER veterinarians

Dômes Pharma Teams Up with Fear Free to  Make Eye Care Less Stressful for Pets

A dog suffers severe reactions after chewing on an agave plant.

Agave plant triggers serious reaction in dog

Check out these strategies to align practice growth with personal financial goals for a secure future.

Business financial planning: Incorporating personal finance goals with practice goals

The Australian startup Snoretox pitched the injectable therapy during the 2025 KC Animal Health Corridor Summit in Kansas City, Missouri.

BOAS treatment in development is recognized with Innovation Award

Videos

Carrier training and at-home prep tips to share with clients, from Ellen Carozza, LVT, VTS (CP-Feline).

Helping clients reduce feline stress during vet visits

The guidelines will help veterinary teams support puppies and kittens immediately after birth. 

RECOVER releases newborn resuscitation guidelines 

Wrap up: dvm360 honors 2025 Hospital Design360 competition merit winners, and other news 

The gastroenterology page is a comprehensive resource for Veterinary news, animal health, and pet care insights on gastroenterology. Read more at dvm360.

Gastroenterology | Veterinary News & Animal Health | dvm360

dvm360 connects veterinarians to essential medical news, veterinary expertise, and insights on pet care products and regulations.

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Clinical

 gastroenterology page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on the latest in veterinary gastroenterology. This page consists of videos, interviews, articles, podcasts, and research on the advancements and developments of therapies for gastroenterology, and more.

Sponsored by Elanco. This podcast is RACE-approved for CE credit. Head to

and login or create a free CE account and claim your credit after listening to this episode.

This podcast will cover the primary treatment recommendations for canine parvoviral enteritis, including fluids, anti-nausea medications, nutrition, and the recently approved canine parvoviral monoclonal antibody treatment.

Treatment recommendations for canine parvoviral enteritits:

Use of a multimodal approach to anti-nausea medications

Canine parvoviral monoclonal antibody treatment

Compare different fluids available for resuscitation of dogs with parvoviral enteritis.

Develop a multimodal plan for the treatment of nausea in dogs with parvoviral enteritis.

Describe the importance of nutrition in the treatment of dogs with parvoviral enteritis.

Define how to use the canine parvovirus monoclonal antibody treatment.

Learn and earn 0.25 credits online with dvm360 Flex

Podcast CE: Treatment of parvoviral enteritis

The connection between gastrointestinal (GI) health and skin health and how it can enhance veterinary dermatology treatment measures was discussed during a lecture at the 2022 American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Presenter Meghan K Solc, DVM, DACVD, associate, Dermatology for Animals in Akron, Ohio, said she often asks clients about their pet’s bowel movements and encourages them to be vigilant of their behaviors when it comes to defecating so they can spot abnormalities.

In her talk, she further explained how being informed of a pet’s gastrointestinal health can be beneficial for dermatologists, and provided tips related to the topic.

Solc described the importance of utilizing a fecal scoring chart when incorporating dermatologic therapies and food trials and educating clients on this useful tool. 

“As a dermatologist, we actually have these fecal scoring charts in every appointment room. In the clinic, I get people to take pictures of these charts, I say, ‘Take a picture, I want you to tell me what score the [fecal matter] is, as we go forward with drug therapy, with diet changes, all of those things are really helpful,’” she said. “I remember having this fecal scoring chart way back when, it always just sat in the corner somewhere as it collected dust. But it's really come back into fashion… and these things have been around for quite a long time. So, get it out of the woodwork.”

It’s also key to stay consistent with a fecal scoring chart and ensure clients are referring to the same one as their veterinary practice. “When somebody calls in and says [the feces] is a 2 to 3 out of whatever, then you know what they're talking about, so they're not referring to some other fecal scoring chart and you're like, ‘oh, that's actually really bad,’” added Solc.

Along with analyzing the appearance of the bowel movement, Solc advised attendees to ask their clients how often a day their dog defecates. She said that 2 to 3 times a day is normal, and if they “go” any more or less than this, this can indicate abnormalities that can influence your treatment plans. Additionally, attendees were advised to ask clients if their pet engages in any abnormal behaviors after they defecate, such as scooting.

“When we think about a dog that ‘goes’ multiple times a day or has looser bowel movements, they may scoot because their anal glands are not emptying as well as they should. They could have perianal pruritis, or they could have issues towards their hind end. They're licking back there because they have diarrhea all over them. Overall, scooting is important to sort of lump in with that fecal score, evaluation, and discussion,” said Solc.

Anal gland expressions as part of dermatologic exam

Solc said it can be beneficial to perform anal gland expressions during a dermatologic exam. “When you do your rectal exam, we want to be able to understand the anatomy and feeling the duct feeling with the anal sac, assessing for abnormalities. And for these cases, when you're doing a rectal exam or looking for masses, or looking for things or abnormalities with anatomy, if the duct is folded over in a more obese dog, [for example], it's not going to empty as well as it normally should. So that's going to allow you to make certain recommendations and push them in one direction versus the other,” she advised.

It is also useful for veterinary dermatologists to familiarize themselves with doing anal gland expressions and understanding what is normal, according to Solc. “[Whether it’s] knowing what's normal on an ear, [or] knowing what's normal in a rectal exam, then we know what to look for, or we know if there's something different that’s a red flag,” she said. “If you haven't done a lot of anal gland expressions, I think it's worth getting back into occasionally, to make sure, ‘Okay, we know what to feel for.’ And sometimes I close my eyes, and that's helpful too.”

Although anal gland cytology isn’t entirely foolproof, Solc explained it’s something that she does in practice. She noted that if you look at publications on anal gland expressions, there is no “hard-and-fast” rule clarifying what is normal versus abnormal, therefore, cytology can help you determine this.

“I'm not saying [anal gland cytology] has to be a full diagnostic test that is going to make or break you. But… this is going to be helpful in determining if there is something awry,” Solc said.

“I look at [the fecal matter] underneath the microscope, and this is going to be a quick look, it doesn't have to be anything fancy… it's just looking for abnormalities. So, what we're looking for are white blood cells or inflammation… We know there's going to be bacteria there, we know that there's going to be all these things there, and that's not surprising. But if we see intracellular bacteria, or if we see, certain things that will be trapped within those white blood cells, that's a bit of a red flag… but if we see squamous cells, melanin, or yeast, a bunch of those things are normal,” she said.

Solc added that if there is something abnormal, this may then prompt veterinarians to treat the underlying inflammation or empty the anal sacs a bit more frequently when first dealing with inflammation. If you see less and less inflammation as a result, you’re on the right track.

Solc MK. The skin/gut connection: why a patient’s fecal score matters to a veterinary dermatologist. Presented at: American Veterinary Medical Association Convention; July 29-August 2, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Evaluating pets' gastrointestinal health is beneficial to veterinary dermatologists and their patients

Making the skin and gut connection 

 scheduled for later this month combines three robust individual conferences (Fetch Baltimore, Fetch Kansas City, and Hospital Design 360), so it’s got something for absolutely everyone on the team. In this episode of the Vet Blast Podcast, Dr. Christman is joined by Jacqueline Whittemore, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM), who shares a bit about the lectures she will be doing in the conference’s gastroenterology track.

Dr. Whittemore, an associate professor at The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, will cover four hot topics: probiotics, chronic hepatopathy in dogs, gallbladder diseases, and hepatic lipidosis.

“I think we’ve got a really great mixture of practical information,” Dr. Whittemore says. “Some of it involves really cutting-edge new research.”

Take a listen as Dr. Whittemore shares some nuggets from her talks and why she is so passionate about GI medicine. The virtual conference is scheduled for August 26 to the 31, so register 

In Episode 5 of The Vet Blast Podcast, Dr. Jacqueline Whittemore discusses the talks she is preparing for the virtual Fetch dvm360 conference later this month.

Episode 5: Highlights from the Fetch dvm360 virtual conference

Jamie Kopper, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (LAIM), DACVECC (LA), discussed common causes of colitis in adult horses in a CE session at Fetch Kansas City.

Understanding Salmonella and equine coronavirus in equine colitis diagnosis

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Show sheep recovers from rumen acidosis

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Nostrum Laboratories cannot guarantee the safety of Sucralfate Tablets USP 1 gram manufactured after June 2023.

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Understanding feline cholangiohepatitis syndrome and hepatic lipidosis

The icteric cat: diagnosis and treatment of common feline hepatopathies

Karen Shenoy, DVM, discusses the importance of a healthy microbiome and the work being done to study more about how it affects pets.

What the microbiome means for pet health

Microbiome science is being explored by researchers and addressed by Hill’s Pet Nutrition in some new and enhanced prescription diet and science diet products including those introduced at the 2025 Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX), presented by the North American Veterinary Community, in Orlando, Florida. In an interview with 

0 at VMX, Karen Shenoy, DVM, chief veterinary officer for Hill’s US, discussed the importance of a healthy microbiome and the work being done to study more about how it affects pets and how that knowledge can be applied to their diets.

The following is a transcript of the video:

: The microbiome is a collection of microbes and all kinds of different organisms that are throughout our body. We actually talk the most about the gut microbiome, and you hear about how what's in your gut and how the different microorganisms that live there can affect you system-wide. It can affect all kinds of different organ systems, and is really important in health and disease that we're thinking about keeping the gut microbiome, not just ourselves, but our microbes that live within us and within our pets good and healthy.

The microbiome is so important as we think about new ways that we may be able to help manage pets or keep them healthy. And Hill’s has been looking into the microbiome and doing a ton of research in that space for more than a decade. We're actually really proud of a partnership we have with the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, and through that, we're not only sharing knowledge and innovating and thinking about how we can help pets, but actually sharing the information both that that school has, that we have around the microbiome in a public way through this one health microbiome resource, so that we can help get data out there, make sure that we're able to help support both pet and human health, and all the advances that can happen within the microbiome space.

Karen Shenoy, DVM, chief veterinary officer for Hill’s US, provided insights about the link between diet and gut health, in a dvm360 interview at VMX.

Conference

Treating a non-eating rabbit requires more than a GI stasis diagnosis

Why diagnosing a rabbit with GI stasis can be harmful

A non-eating or anorexic rabbit, a common exotic animal emergency observed by exotic specialists, is often labeled as gastrointestinal (GI) stasis. However, this term can be very detrimental to the rabbit’s wellbeing.

, Lauren Thielen, DVM, DABVP (Avian Practice), talked about one the main takeaways from her lecture 

Exotic Animal Emergencies: Where to Start and What to Expect

, presented at the Southwest Veterinary Symposium in Fort Worth, Texas. Thielen explained that the term ‘GI stasis’ implies that there is no underlying cause to an anorexic rabbit’s behavior, because GI stasis is assumed to be the condition itself. 

Gastroenterology

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