BASICS
GE represents 1 of several types of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases affecting the mature horse. The disease is characterized by a diffuse and circumscribed infiltration of the lamina propria and submucosa of the gastrointestinal tract with lymphocytes, macrophages, and epithelioid cells with occasional plasma cells and multinucleated giant cells. The ileum is the most consistently affected site. The presence of marked villous atrophy and clubbing contributes to malabsorption of carbohydrates due to the loss of absorptive surface area and the loss of absorptive epithelial cells at the tips of the villi. Other features of the small bowel mucosa include ulceration, lymphoid hyperplasia, crypt abscesses, and lymphangiectasia.
Granulomatous enteritis can occur at any age or in any breed, or either sex. It is most common in young adult horses, and Standardbreds are predisposed.
- Chronic, insidious weight loss of several months’ duration is the most common presenting sign. Horses present in thin or emaciated body condition
- Bright and alert initially, but become depressed with debilitation
- Decreased exercise tolerance may be the first clinical sign observed
- Appetite variable; is usually increased initially
- Roughened haircoat; alopecia; skin dry and flaky
- Dependent edema may develop as animal becomes hypoproteinemic
- Diarrhea is not usually present unless there is involvement of the large intestine and rectum
- Multiple, firm nodules or masses within the mesentery or small intestine may be palpated consistently on per rectal examination
DIAGNOSIS
TREATMENT
MEDICATIONS
FOLLOW-UP
MISCELLANEOUS