Raquel M.

Replying to scott@vtx-cpd.com 08/03/2026 - 12:54

Great thanks, I look forward to it 🙂. I’m doing well, hope you are too!

Replying to scott@vtx-cpd.com 28/09/2025 - 14:05

I’m not sure but there are reports on the literature when I had a look.

I believe it’s thought to be exacerbation of existing OA or immune mediated arthritis but I can’t recall for sure .

Hiya,

About to try FMT on my first patient.

An adult dog with chronic mixed bowel diarrhea. No weight loss, well otherwise. He’s been given metro by my colleagues, steroids and has been on probiotics inconsistently.

He had small intestinal biopsies done and came back as chronic enteropathy with no neoplastic or infectious etiology.

He’s been in our hospital for 7 weeks because the owner lives on one of the sister islands (cayman islands based).

He’s has had diarrhea for months it seems.

No vomiting.

I’ve added fiber and will repeat deworming if my colleagues having already. He’s on a trial with Z/D diet as arranged by my colleague so giving that 2-3 weeks before switching to another intestinal diet.

No longer on steroids or antibiotics.

Hoping the FMT will help before we switch diet again.

I’ve only recently joined this clinic again so not as familiar with the case.

He’s had ultrasound, ACTH stim, baseline cbc/chem. Not sure about UA.

Any advice would be really appreciated : )

This is great timing Scott. I’ve been thinking about the safety and use of Librela as I’m back in clinical practice again soon.
It’s become a polarizing drug on island. Some love it and use it frequently. I’ve met vets who are extremely cautious with I and avoid even offering it as an option to clients. I think your nuanced approach is very important. I’ve already started to really improve educating clients on it when I offer the option and having them make an informed decision. I’m trying to balance not* being overly cautious with being honest about potential side effects.
At least on island, I think many GPs are more comfortable with Librela because it’s perceived to be safer than NSAIDs. I do think we need to get better at getting baseline imaging done to confirm the arthritis and better at monitoring. I’ve seen Librela prescribed for long term use but I’ve had questions in my mind about whether there was truly clinical improvement in some cases where it continued to be used. I thinking imaging would help and having more conversations with the owner to determine whether it is really beneficial to continue long term use if there isn’t really improvement in clinical signs. I haven’t seen it cause worsening of orthopedic signs but I’ll be more conscious to monitor for that. I’ve not used it in younger dogs yet. Is there any research on neurological side effects or using in animals with concurrent neurological disease? I ask because a visiting neurologist from the vet school I used to work at had concerns that Librela can cross the blood brain barrier. He cautioned with using it in cases with neurological disease. On island, I think that’s done in cases where the clincial signs are misdiagnosed as OA when they’re probably more neurological. We don’t have MRI or CT so I can see the risk of misdiagnosis o occurring in those cases if a good neurological exam isn’t done.