Comparison of effects of castor oil and senna for bowel preparation before abdominal radiography in dogs

A clean bowel preparation prior to X-ray examination is essential to obtain an accurate diagnosis. This study was performed to compare the effect of senna and castor oil on the bowel preparation of dogs for abdominal radiography. Twenty adult healthy mongrel dogs from each sex ranging in age from 18 to 30 months received either a senna (20mg/kg) or a castor oil (4ml/kg) regimen through an orogastric tube the day before abdominal radiography. Only water was given ad libitum to animals during the day before radiography. Radiologist unaware of the method of bowel preparation, reviewed the standard radiographs and graded the feces and gas in the colon and rectum, fecal radio-opacity and quality of radiographs on a scale of 0 to 3 (0=inadequate to 3=excellent). The cleanliness scores of colon for the senna and castor oil groups were 2.5±0.53 and 2.3±0.48, respectively. Also the cleanliness scores of rectum for the senna and castor oil groups were 2.5±0.53 and 2.4±0.52, respectively. Both senna and castor oil significantly improves bowel cleansing score in dogs (p