Title:

Evaluation of the Effect of Spascupreel on Chronic Enteropathies in Dogs

Investigators:

Karin Allenspach DVM, MS, PhD, DECVIM-CA (Precision One Health faculty)
Jonathan Mochel DVM, MS, PhD, DECVPT, AAVPT Fellow (Director, Precision One Health)
Bianca Lourenço, DVM, MSc, PhD, DACVIM, (Internal Medicine faculty)
Amber Harris DVM, DACVIM (Internal Medicine faculty)
Camila Talavera DVM (Internal Medicine specialty intern)

If interested please contact our Clinical Trials Coordinator Lisa Reno via email ([email protected]) or phone at 706-296-7818.

Study description:

This study investigates the effects of Sascupreel, which is a plant-based homeopathic medication, in addition to standard medical treatment (diet alone), for dogs with food-responsive chronic enteropathies. Commonly used analgesic medications addressing abdominal pain in dogs with chronic enteropathies have significant disadvantages, such as decreasing blood flow to abdominal organs and causing GI effects (such as with NSAIDs) or inducing GI stasis (such as with opioids). There is, therefore, an urgent need to establish better treatment modalities for abdominal pain in dogs with chronic enteropathies. Spascupreel has shown promise in reducing abdominal pain and cramping in rats and humans and has the potential to address abdominal pain without causing any side effects when used to treat canine chronic enteropathy. We hypothesize that dogs receiving Spascupreel will show an improvement of their clinical signs and quality of life scores compared to those receiving placebo.

The study is a blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study lasting 6 weeks in duration.

Inclusion criteria:

• Dogs aged at least 1 year, of either sex
• Diagnosed with chronic enteropathy that is likely to be food-responsive

Exclusion criteria:

• Antibiotics given in the past 15 days
• Steroids given in the past 15 days
• NSAIDs given in the past 15 days
• Analgesics, such as buprenorphine or butorphanol, given in the past 15 days
• Presence of a major co-morbidity, such as pancreatitis, Cushing’s disease, diabetes mellitus, major kidney disease, etc.

Dogs will be screened for study inclusion based on history, physical examination, and baseline labwork (chemistry, CBC, urinalysis, GI Panel, cortisol, serum serotonin, fecal float). In addition, all dogs will have a full abdominal ultrasound performed. Dogs meeting inclusion criteria will be transitioned to a hypoallergenic diet (Royal Canin HP) for two weeks. If improvement in clinical signs is noted, enrolled dogs will be randomly assigned to receive either Spascupreel (according to label specifications) or placebo orally daily for the 6-week study duration. The hypoallergenic diet will be continued for the duration of the study. All dogs will be monitored at home by the owners who will be asked to record a daily activity score and daily fecal score. Owners will be asked to fill out a quality-of-life questionnaire on a weekly basis. All dogs will return for recheck visits to the hospital at Week 2 and Week 6, during which physical examination will be repeated, and blood and feces will be collected for analysis. All of the above-mentioned procedures and office visits will be paid for by study funds.

Duration of study:

This study is currently OPEN.

Potential benefits to veterinary medicine:

To date, there is no evidence-based information available in dogs as to whether this medication reduces abdominal pain. Results of this pilot study may show Spascupreel as an effective treatment for dogs with abdominal pain due to chronic enteropathy.