IBD (inflammatory bowel disease)

IBD, inflammatory bowel disease, refers to a group of conditions marked by persistent inflammation of the digestive tract, increasingly grouped under the broader heading of chronic enteropathies. Signs include vomiting, chronic diarrhoea, weight loss and variable appetite, and diagnosis is one of exclusion, requiring other causes such as parasites, infections or a food reaction to be ruled out, often resting on intestinal biopsies (WSAVA; veterinary literature). Nutrition holds a central place in management, and a notable share of animals respond to a dietary change alone, a situation then called food-responsive enteropathy. The diets used are often highly digestible, with controlled fat content, sometimes based on a novel protein such as [venison](/glossary/venison-deer) or a [protein hydrolysate](/glossary/protein-hydrolysate) to limit an immune component, and a supervised dietary trial serves as both treatment and diagnostic tool. Cases not responding to diet may need additional medical treatment prescribed by a vet. The marker: faced with chronic diarrhoea, a structured exclusion approach takes priority over self-directed trial of successive diets without a diagnosis, which distinguishes IBD management from casual diet-hopping. It connects to [food allergy versus food intolerance](/glossary/food-allergy-vs-food-intolerance) and to [fecal score](/glossary/fecal-score) monitoring in the [Petipedia glossary](/glossary).

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