Histiocytic ulcerative colitis in a French bulldog

A 9-month-old French bulldog was referred for signs of chronic large bowel diarrhea. The dog had an increased frequency of defecation, tenesmus and hematochezia. Flexible colonoscopy showed hyperemia, irregularities and ulcerations with multifocal hemorrhages in the mucosa from the descending colon to the proximal rectum. Multiple colonic biopsies were characterized by infiltrations of PAS positive histiocytes in the lamina propria. A diagnosis of histiocytic ulcerative colitis (HUC) was made, and the animal showed only minimal improvement, although it was treated with nutritional and medical therapies. This is the second case of HUC in French bulldog, a breed which has ancestral relations to Boxer dogs.