Chronic diarrhea study in dogs | Dr. Justine Lee
Do you have a dog with chronic diarrhea? Live in the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania? University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Hospital is looking for dogs with chronic gastrointestinal problems in a new Penn Vet clinical trial.
Clinical signs of:
- Chronic diarrhea
- Vomiting
may make your dog eligible for this study.
According to internal medicine specialist, Dr. Mark Rondeau, “What we know so far is that there are different populations of bacteria in dogs that have Chronic Enteropathy compared to dogs that don’t have that disease. What we don’t know and we are hoping to look into is how those bacteria change with treatment and whether those bacteria are truly influencing the disease progression or the response treatment.”
As a pet owner, what’s in it for you? While this study can take anywhere between 2-8 weeks, all the diagnostics and treatment are free of charge! Pet owners interested in enrolling a dog in this study should email
Penn Vet’s Veterinary Clinical Investigations Center at vcic@vet.upenn.edu or call(215)-573-0302.
Dear Dr.Lee,
our dog Boo has chronic diarrhea since August 2016. He has been treated for 6 month by VERG (Veterinary Emergency Group) in Brooklyn, NY since then.
They performed so many tests on them (Cornell University etc) and can not find anything.
Boo was 5 month on Baytril and EN and now he is on a duck diet (he can not digest the food at all and vomits.
Next is Hydrolized diet. Vomiting and diarrhea seems to get worse and not better though.
Can you help us?
Boo is a 7 -8 year old Doberman/Great Dane Mix approx, 90 pounds.
I’m so sorry to hear that – it sounds like he definitely needs abdominal ultrasound (if not already done) + surgical biopsies to make sure he doesn’t have underlying inflammatory bowel disease vs. cancer, etc. I’m assuming a lot of these have already been offered through VERG. There are some potential risks with surgical biopsies (depending on what his protein level is), but in general, it’s very safe. Endoscopy isn’t helpful as your dog is so big, it’d be hard to get good biopsies (e.g., not long enough, not deep enough tissue, etc.). I would recommend getting this done at Cornell University directly if you don’t mind the drive to Ithaca! Keep us posted!
Thank you so much for your reply. All these tests have been done and nothing was found.
We are trying the hydrolyzed diet plus probiotics now.
If that doesn’t help we are willing to try a raw diet.
I’m sure this has probably been done, but make sure a fecal culture, fecal, etc. have also been done, along with a full course of fenbendazole (typically 5-7 days) and metronidazole (3-4 weeks) first. If not, hydrolyzed for at least 12 weeks with absolutely NO snacks, medications (flavored), treats, etc. Best of luck!