GI Disease & Therapeutic Nutrition Flashcards
(18 cards)
Functions of a normal GI (4)
- Digestion of ingredients
- Absorption of nutrients
- Move food thru GI tract
- Eliminate waste (undigested) or bi-products (bile acids, nitrogen)
Diet quality goals (3)
- Meet nutrient needs of animal in usable form
- Balance of fiber to maintain normal motility & bacterial population
- Not create illness
Describe each complex carbohydrate:
1. Starches
2. Fiber
- Digested by animal’s endogenous digestive enzymes
- Resistant to enzymatic digestion and thus are fermented by intestinal microbes
GI Disease
1. Stomach (2)
2. Small intestine (3)
3. Large intestine (1)
- Stomach
- Gastritis
- Gastric dilation &/or volvulus - Small intestine
- Enteritis
- Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
- Food intolerance/allergy - Colitis
Gastritis & Enteritis
Signs (2)
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Volume
- Consistency
- Frequency
Diarrhea
Small bowel (5) vs Large bowel (5)
- Small
- Vomiting
- Poor appetite
- Large volume
- 1-2x/day
- Poss weight loss - Large
- Straining/pain
- Small volume
- 3-10x/day
- Mucous
- Frank blood
Maldigestion / Malabsorption
1. What is it?
2. Signs (4)
- Failure to breakdown nutrients
- Failure to absorb nutrients - Signs
- Diarrhea
- Weight loss
- HUNGER
- Greasy stools
GI Disease Goals: (3)
- Restore fluid & electrolyte losses
- PO, SQ, IV fluid therapy - NPO to “rest” entire GI tract
- Gradual intro of highly digestible nutrients
- Do in small, controlled quantities
Key Nutritional Factors of GI Disease (6)
- Highly digestible protein ~ >80%
- Feline: 30-45%
- K9: 16-26% - Single or limited source protein
- Highly digestible carbs
- >90% - Moderate amount of fat
- K9: <15%
- Feline: <22% - Highly digestible fat
- >90% - Replace lost electrolytes
Soluble Fiber
1. What are they?
2. How are they produced?
3. Function
- Short-chain fatty acids that are nutritive to colonocytes.
- Produced by Fermentation of soluble fiber by Bacteria.
- Encourage normal colon bacteria and discourage pathogenic bacteria.
Insoluble Fiber
1. Ability to function within GI tract
2. Function (4)
- Resistant to digestion & fermentation
- Function
- Normalizes gut motility
- Increases fecal bulk: Improves intest muscle contractions
- Absorbs water
- Absorbs toxins
Clinical signs for each large intestine disease:
1. Mega colon (2)
2. Colitis (3)
- Mega colon
- Constipation
- Obstipation - Colitis
- Mucous
- Straining
- Small amounts, frequently
Goals of Large Bowel Diseases: (4)
- Reduce contributing causes
- Provide “bulk” to stool
- Highly digestible ingredients
- Provide water absorption in colon
Key Nutritional Factors for Large Intestine Disease (4)
- Increase water consumption
- Increase insoluble fiber
- Highly digestible fat & CHO
- Highly digestible protein
When monitoring an animal’s gastrointestinal health, a technician should note and record:
a. Fecal volume
b. Fecal consistency
c. Fecal frequency
d. All of the above
d. All of the above
Soluble fiber
a. Is fermented into short-chain fatty acids that provide nutrition for colon cells
b. Encourages the growth of pathogen bacteria
c. Is a cheap “filler” found in poor quality diets
d. Adds bulk and firmness to stools
a. Is fermented into short-chain fatty acids that provide nutrition for colon cells
An animal that presents with a history of vomiting 3x in the last 24 hours should initially be treated with:
a. A “bland” diet
b. A high protein diet
c. No food for 24 hours, but fluid support
d. A high fat diet
c. No food for 24 hours, but fluid support
An animal with a presentation of large intestinal diarrhea (colitis) should be fed:
a. A “bland” diet
b. A diet high in protein
c. A diet high in insoluble fiber
d. A diet high in fat
c. A diet high in insoluble fiber
