ACVIM Endorses Updated Guidance on Canine Chronic Inflammatory Enteropathy

The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) has endorsed a new consensus statement on diagnosing and managing canine chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE), published January 21, 2026, in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine. The updated guidance reflects advances in understanding chronic gastrointestinal inflammation and recommends a stepwise diagnostic approach based on clinical signs, history, imaging and sequential testing.

The panel emphasizes a “diet-first” treatment strategy, noting that 38% to 89% of dogs with CIE respond to dietary therapy and may achieve long-term remission. Complete diet trials using highly digestible, limited-ingredient, hydrolyzed or other therapeutic diets should last at least two weeks, with up to three different trials considered.

The guidance also supports microbiome-directed therapy when diet alone is insufficient. Visbiome Vet, containing the De Simone Formulation, is identified as the only probibiotic backed by randomized clinical trial data, earning a conditional recommendation. Additional recommendations include assessing malnutrition risk, selective fecal testing and monitoring disease severity using validated clinical activity indices.