A. Kathrani

INTRODUCTION Dogs with protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) due to chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE) and intestinal lymphangiectasia (IL) are reported in the literature with a guarded prognosis, with approximately 50% of referred cases being euthanised due to PLE (Craven & Washabau, 2019). Dogs with PLE due to either small- or large-cell lymphoma are reported with significantly shorter survival times than PLE cases with CIE and IL (Nakashima et al., 2015).

Chronic enteropathy (CE) in dogs involves persistent or intermittent gastrointestinal (GI) signs lasting ≥3 weeks and is diagnosed by exclusion of metabolic, infectious or neoplastic causes. Traditional classification by treatment response [food-responsive enteropathy (FRE), immunosuppressant-responsive, or microbiome-targeted] is misleading, as many dogs do not fit one category and may require different interventions over time (Hodel et al., 2024).

METHODS Recruitment Cases were prospectively recruited from the referral caseload of our Internal Medicine Service at a referral teaching hospital in the UK and comprised dogs with a history of gastrointestinal signs. Informed consent was obtained from each owner before sampling. Dogs which had received systemic or topical antifungal drugs in the previous 14 days were excluded.