Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Meloxicam reduces chronic osteoarthritis pain in cats
By Guillot, M et al.·Published in Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)·2013·Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Characterization of osteoarthritis in cats and meloxicam efficacy using objective chronic pain evaluation tools.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats with osteoarthritis (OA) were studied to see how well meloxicam, a common pain medication, could help relieve their pain and improve their activity levels. The cats were monitored for changes in their movement and pain sensitivity over four weeks while receiving either meloxicam or a placebo. The results showed that while meloxicam did not significantly improve pain sensitivity, it did help increase nighttime activity in some cats. Overall, meloxicam provided some pain relief, allowing the cats to be more active during the night.
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Abstract
This study aimed to characterize osteoarthritis (OA)-related chronic pain and disability in experimental cats with naturally occurring OA. Peak vertical ground reaction force (PVF), accelerometer-based motor activity (MA) and the von Frey anesthesiometer-induced paw withdrawal threshold were used to define OA and to test the efficacy of meloxicam. A diagnosis of OA was based on radiographic and orthopedic examinations. Cats with OA (n=39) and classified as non-OA (n=6) were used to assess the reliability and sensitivity of the parameters to assess OA over 3weeks while being administered placebo medication. A randomised parallel design study was then used to investigate the effects on OA of daily oral meloxicam treatment for 4weeks at different dose rates (0.025mg/kg, n=10mg/kg; 0.04mg/kg, n=10; 0.05mg/kg, n=9), compared to cats administered a placebo (n=10). The test-retest repeatability for each tool was good (intra-class correlation coefficient ⩾0.6). The PVF and the von Frey anesthesiometer-induced paw withdrawal threshold discriminated OA (P<0.05). Meloxicam did not add to the PVF improvement observed in placebo-treated cats during the treatment period (adj-P⩽0.01). The 0.025 and the 0.05mg/kg meloxicam-treated cats experienced a higher night-time (17:00-06:58h) MA intensity during the treatment period compared to the placebo period (adj-P=0.04, and 0.02, respectively) and this effect was not observed in the placebo group. The high allodynia rate observed in the 0.04mg/kg meloxicam-treated group may explain the lower responsiveness to the drug. The von Frey anesthesiometer-induced paw withdrawal threshold demonstrated no responsiveness to meloxicam. The results from this study indicated that daily oral meloxicam administration for 4weeks provided pain relief according to night-time MA.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23416029/