Successful outcome after a single endoscopic fecal microbiota transplantation in a Shiba dog with non-responsive enteropathy during the treatment with chlorambucil

Abstract

A 7-year 6-month-old, castrated male Shiba dog presented with a 1-month history of lethargy, anorexia, vomiting, and frequent watery diarrhea. Weight loss, hypoalbuminemia, anemia, and leukocytosis were detected at the first visit. The dog was diagnosed with non-responsive enteropathy (NRE) based on clinical and histopathological examinations. Since the dog did not respond to the immunosuppressive drugs, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was performed during the treatment with chlorambucil. A single endoscopic FMT into the cecum and colon drastically recovered clinical signs and clinicopathological abnormalities and corrected dysbiosis in the dog. No recurrence or adverse events were observed. The present case report suggests that FMT, possibly together with chlorambucil, might be a treatment option for NRE in Shiba dogs that have poorer prognosis compared with other dog breeds.

Keywords: Shiba dog; dysbiosis; fecal microbiota transplantation; hypoalbuminemia; non-responsive enteropathy.

Fig. 1.

Changes in canine chronic enteropathy clinical activity index (CCECAI), body weight (BW), plasma albumin levels (ALB), packed cell volume (PCV), and white blood cell counts (WBC) of a Shiba dog that received fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Treatments performed, a dietary trial, and administered drugs are shown below the graph.

Fig. 2.

Compositional changes in the fecal microbiota of a Shiba dog before and after fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). (A) Composition of the fecal microbiota. (B) Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) plots based on unweighted and weighted UniFrac distances of the fecal microbiota. The number showed the day. (C) Alpha diversity of the fecal microbiota of the recipient dog. ASV, amplicon sequence variant.