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Short bowel syndrome is an intestinal malabsorptive condition that results from extensive resection of small intestine [31, 44]. The syndrome is characterized by loss of body condition, chronic diarrhea, steatorrhea, nutritional and metabolic disorders, and fluid and electrolyte abnormalities. The average length of small intestine in dogs is considered to be approximately 3.5 times their length from crown to rump [2]. The length of bowel resection that leads to short bowel syndrome is variably reported as greater than 70–85% of the small intestine [31–33].

Few cases of short bowel syndrome are reported in the veterinary literature [31, 32,44–46]. With nutritional and supportive care, patients have been reported to adapt to the loss of bowel over one to two months; however, soft stools are frequently reported and long‐term nutritional management is necessary [31, 32, 46]. Factors that may affect the severity of symptoms include the function or presence of the ileocolic valve, the health of the remaining bowel, and the length of bowel resected [44]. In a more recent study, length of bowel resected did not seem to effect long‐term outcome in dogs that lived for a sufficient amount of time for adaptation [31].

Client education is critical. Owners should be prepared that the adaptive period requires vigilance and commitment. Despite strict adherence to dietary recommendations, significant diarrhea episodes will occur. In fact, owing to the severity of clinical signs, many of the reported cases were euthanized before a sufficient amount of time for intestinal adaptation had passed.

Therapy for short bowel syndrome is aimed at maintaining fluid and electrolyte homeostasis, providing adequate nutrition through an easily digestible diet, and controlling diarrhea [32, 46]. Pharmaceutical management frequently uses antibiotic therapy to prevent bacterial overgrowth, histamine‐2 antagonists to reduce stomach acidity, and motility modifiers to increase intestinal smooth muscle tone [32, 46]. Surgical techniques to increase intestinal surface area, modify intestinal transit times, and replace the function of the ileocecal valve have been investigated. Most studies have used the dog as a model for human disease, and most techniques have not been investigated for practical use in veterinary medicine [32,47–58].