Digestive Health guides
Practical, veterinary-led guidance on Digestive Health, written by vets, free to read. View all guides
Chronic enteropathy: the modern way to think about "IBD"
IBD is not the life sentence it sounds like. What chronic enteropathy really means, and why the gloomy version online is out of date.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
The diet trial, done properly: the first and best treatment
Why a change of food is usually the first thing we try, how to run a diet trial properly, and how long to give it before judging.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Living with a chronically sick gut: B12, fibre, the microbiome and managing flares
The weeks after diagnosis. Feeding, monitoring and the everyday scaffolding that keeps good days outnumbering bad ones.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Feline chronic enteropathy and the small-cell lymphoma question
Chronic vomiting in a cat is not just hairballs. Why cats are not small dogs here, and what long-running bowel disease looks like.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
When Diet Is Not Enough: The Step-Up, and Where Steroids Actually Fit
When the diet trial has not worked: what steroids actually do, what the alternatives are, and how treatment is stepped up.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Getting the diagnosis: why chronic enteropathy is what is left when everything else is ruled out
Why we rarely reach for the camera first. How chronic enteropathy is actually diagnosed, and what the response to treatment tells us.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Pancreatitis: the painful belly, and the fatty-meal myth
Fear and guilt tend to arrive together with this word. What pancreatitis actually is, what triggers it, and why the modern picture is kinder.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
The pancreatitis flare: pain relief, anti-nausea, and feeding through it
Your pet is admitted on a drip, or home and recovering slowly. Pain relief, feeding, and what treating a flare involves now.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Feeding for a pancreas: the low-fat life, treats and the long game
What a low-fat diet actually means in practice: reading the label, handling treats, and feeding one pet differently from the others.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Chronic, grumbling pancreatitis: spotting the slow burn
The off-and-on cases that never quite look like an emergency. How low-grade pancreatitis shows itself, and how it is confirmed.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Managing EPI for life: enzymes with every meal, B12, and getting the dose right
Enzymes, B12 and the feeding routine most owners settle into within a month. What day-to-day EPI management actually looks like.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Why the weight still will not come: cobalamin, dysbiosis and the slow responders
The enzymes are going in and your pet is still too thin. The usual reasons EPI treatment stalls, and what to check next.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
EPI: Ravenous, Thin, and Passing Greasy Stools, the Diagnosis Vets Miss
A dog that is ravenous and still losing weight. What exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is, how it is diagnosed, and why it is treatable.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Managing constipation: fibre, lactulose, prokinetics, hydration and the litter-tray truth
The home toolkit for a constipation-prone pet: food, water and litter tray setup, what to try in what order, and when to stop.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
The cat who cannot poo: constipation, megacolon and when it is an emergency
Most straining in the litter tray is constipation. The dangerous look-alike to rule out, and when watch-and-wait stops being safe.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Constipation in dogs: diet, dehydration, and the causes worth ruling out
Why the human advice to add fibre can be the wrong move in a dog, what actually helps, and when straining is something else entirely.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Recurrent anal sac trouble: why it keeps happening and how to break the cycle
When emptying the sacs keeps buying only a few weeks. Why it keeps happening, and what actually breaks the cycle.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Scooting, licking and that smell: anal gland problems explained
What the anal sacs actually do, why scooting is not always a gland problem, and why repeated emptying is often the wrong answer.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
My pet is being sick or has diarrhoea: what is going on, and what to do
The useful question tonight is not what is this, but is this one to watch or one to act on. How to tell, and what to do either way.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
When can you treat a tummy upset at home, and when must you call the vet?
How to help a mild upset safely: what to feed, what to skip, which folklore to ignore, and the signs that mean the watching stops.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Is this an emergency? The digestive red-flags you must not wait on
Most tummy upsets are not emergencies. The small handful of patterns that mean go now, and why waiting one more night is the real risk.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Worms and giardia: when a parasite is behind the diarrhoea
When a parasite really is behind the diarrhoea, why a positive giardia test often needs no treatment, and how repeat worming hides the real cause.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 13 min read
Vomiting or regurgitation? Why the difference matters
They look alike but point at completely different parts of the body. How to tell them apart, and why it changes the whole work-up.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Megaoesophagus and chronic regurgitation: the condition behind bringing food back up
What is going wrong, why aspiration pneumonia is the real worry, and the upright feeding and management you can start at home.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Wind, gurgling and the rumbling tummy: when flatulence is normal and when it is a clue
Most wind is a nuisance rather than a disease. What causes it, what genuinely reduces it, and the signs that point at something more.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Dietary indiscretion and garbage gut: the dog who ate something he should not
He raided the bin. Which scavenging upsets will pass on their own, and the ones that need a vet the same day.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
How to describe it to your vet (and what to photograph)
Vomiting and diarrhoea are signs, not diagnoses. The details that let your vet narrow the list, and how to record them at home.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Does my pet need antibiotics for diarrhoea? (Usually not)
For most pets with diarrhoea the evidence-based answer is no. Why antibiotics usually do more harm than good, and what helps instead.
Alastair Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
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