Gastritis and Gastric Ulcers

Gastritis and Gastric Ulcers
 

Introduction
Gastric disease is common in both dogs and cats and can be challenging to diagnose. Some patients have isolated gastric disease, such as gastric ulceration, gastritis, or gastric neoplasia, while other patients have inflammatory infiltration of the gastrointestinal mucosa that involves the stomach and, most commonly, the small intestine.

Gastritis
Gastritis is an inflammation of the gastric mucosa and can have many causes, some of which can be identified, such as Physaloptera rara infestation or gastric adenocarcinoma. However, in most cases the underlying cause of the inflammatory infiltration remains unclear and gastritis is assumed to be a component of idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease. As such, the management is similar to that of IBD, including dietary trials and antiinflammatory agents. In addition, antacids may also be useful in IBD patients with a significant gastritis component.

Physaloptera rara infestation
Physaloptera rara is the stomach worm of the dog, but can occasionally also be found in cats. Diagnosis is rarely made by fecal examination; more commonly the diagnosis is made based on seeing the worm endoscopically or by empirically treating a patient with chronic vomiting with pyrantel pamoate (in dogs: 15 mg/kg PO; repeat in 2-3 weeks), which should be a routine measure before commencing the work-up with more costly and invasive diagnostic tools, and resolution of clinical signs. […]