Author's note

Gastrointestinal disorders are among the most common presenting complaints in small animal practice. The clinical signs may be due to dis­orders of the gastrointestinal tract itself such as inflammation, obstruc­tion or neoplasia, or may be secondary to disorders of other organs, such as in cases of hypoadrenocorticism or animals with portosystemic shunts.

Because of the wide variety of potential aetiologies and the complexity of some cases, a problem-orientated approach is helpful and has been used in the cases presented in this book. In problem-orientated medicine, differential diagnoses are developed for each of the clinical problems. This approach aids the clinician in prioritizing diagnostic tests and de­creases the likelihood of problems being missed.

The format of this book is primarily based on major presenting signs. Each section of cases is preceded by a short discussion of normal function and pathophysiology of the problem. The areas include swallowing dis­orders and regurgitation, vomiting, small intestinal diarrhoea, haematochezia and melaena and colonic disorders. Obviously there is overlap among the areas, as patients often present with more than one problem. In these, the cases are under the predominantly presenting com­plaint. The book does not include every possible type of gastrointestinal case, but attempts to present a range of common and uncommon, simple and complex cases.

For cases, there is also a discussion of the pathophysiology, treatment, outcome and prognosis. Additional information is provided in the appen­dices.