Phenobarbital responsive Sialadenosis in rottweiler dog - case report on clinical findings and treatments

Sialadenosis is a bilateral, painless, noninflammatory, uniform, and nonneoplastic condition reported in human and animal medicine. It is a rare condition in animal medicine with only a handful of case reports published to date. According to the different case reviews in the veterinary literature, it can be classified under different forms that are associated with enlargement of a salivary gland with gastrointestinal diseases or without any other abnormality and also phenobarbital responsive or non-responsive form. Phenobarbital-responsive sialadenosis associated with an oesophagal foreign body has also been reported in a dog. This communication presents a case report of phenobarbital responsive sialadenosis of a ten-month old male Rottweiler. This dog was presented with the main complaint of acute vomiting together with inappetence, gulping, and progressive weight loss. Imaging studies revealed gastrointestinal inflammation in the stomach with mild ulceration with unclear aetiology. The dog did not show any improvement to symptomatic treatments. Additionally, it developed bilateral enlargement of the submandibular salivary glands which were hard in consistency and evident at the second presentation at 10 days after the first. Treatment with oral phenobarbital brought rapid resolution of clinical signs. Until recently, the pathogenesis of sialadenosis and why it does respond to phenobarbital have not been well understood. Because of the response to phenobarbital treatments, sialadenosis may represent a form of limbic epilepsy or peripheral autonomic dysfunction.