Research

The Gastrointestinal Laboratory plays an active role in the study of gastrointestinal disorders in dogs and cats. We also develop new diagnostic tests that may one day be useful in diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders and we try to study new therapeutic strategies for groups of patients with gastrointestinal disease. However, we could not do any of this work without your help. We are currently doing several retrospective studies that require clinical patient data. Thus, we may send you a short questionnaire about a specific patient of yours. Your help in filling out those questionnaires is greatly appreciated.

Please remember, we can not give diagnostic or therapeutic advice to pet owners. Samples must be submitted to the laboratory via your primary care veterinarian.

Please see the links for more detailed information on several new studies for which we are currently enrolling patients, including contact details and eligibility requirements:

• Familial Cobalamin Malabsorption in SharPei Dogs
• Cyclosporine as a novel treatment for chronic pancreatitis in dogs with insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus
• Canine inflammatory bowel disease
• Ultra-low fat diets for the management of chronic pancreatitis

Other current projects that are currently performed in our laboratory:

• The feline and canine intestinal microbiome, metagenome, and metabolome
• Prevalence and characterization of fungal organisms in the feline gastrointestinal tract
• Prevalence of canine and feline pancreatitis
• Tritrichomonas foetus diarrhea in cats
• Usefulness of novel inflammatory markers in the staging of canine and feline inflammatory bowel disease
• Short Chain fatty acids (butyrate, propionate, acetate) and other metabolomics