Acute enteritis or gastroenteritis in young dogs as a predisposing factor for intestinal intussusception: a retrospective study.

Various types of intestinal intussusception were diagnosed in 29 of 220 young dogs with acute enteritis or gastroenteritis, due to canine parvovirus (85 cases) or presumably to other infectious agents, inflammation or less common hypermotility and metabolic derangements (135 cases). As the other causes of the disease were excluded, acute enteritis or gastroenteritis was considered to be the most likely predisposing factor for the intestinal intussusception. The most common type of intussusception was found to be the ileocolic. Of the 21 dogs that underwent surgical resection and anastomosis of the intestine, 18 dogs recovered completely and three died due to complications. The high survival rate was due to the effective pre-operative, surgical and post-operative therapy.