Treatment of cats with Notoedres cati mange using imidacloprid

Abstract

Notoedric mange (feline scabies) is a rare, but highly contagious disease of cats and kittens caused by Notoedres cati (N. cati), which can infest other animals and also humans. The study objective was to determine the efficacy and safety of 10 % imidacloprid/ 1 % moxidectin (Advocate®/Advantage® Multi spot-on for cats) against natural N. cati infestation in cats. Sixteen cats were randomly assigned to treatment group or negative control using pre-treatment mite counts. The treatment group received a single spot on treatment of the investigational veterinary product (IVP) according to label instructions. The control group stayed untreated. Five cats from the negative control were treated with the IVP at the end of the study and observed for 28 days to increase the treatment group. Skin scrapings and mite counts were performed 28 days post treatment (p.t.). Notoedric skin lesion assessments with clinical scoring were performed regularly. Five animals had to be removed prematurely from the study population due to different reasons. The number of viable N. cati mites in all treated animals 28 days p.t. was zero compared with 2.8 ± 3.0 in the negative control, being significantly lower for treated cats (p = 0.0019, Wilcoxon test). The resulting efficacy was 100 %. Clinical cure based on skin lesion assessment was achieved 28 days p.t. in 100 % of all treated animals completing 28 study days. The IVP was well tolerated and applied at the minimal therapeutic dose (10 mg imidacloprid/1 mg moxidectin/kg body weight) a high therapeutic efficacy in curing N. cati infestations and feline scabies clinical symptoms was recorded.