Lascelles, B. D., B. D. Hansen, et al. (2007). “Evaluation of client-specific outcome measures and activity monitoring to measure pain relief in cats with osteoarthritis.” J Vet Intern Med 21(3): 410-6.
Osteoarthritis may be underdiagnosed and under treated in cats. One of the problems is that there are no validated systems for measuring osteoarthritis pain in cats. Thirteen cats over 10 years of age with decreased activity, painful arthritic joints, and clinically normal blood work were included in the study and evaluated for 3 weeks. In weeks 2 and 3, meloxicam or a placebo was administered in a blinded, randomized, cross-over manner. Owner subjective assessments and an activity monitor were used to detect pain and assess efficacy of treatment. Activity counts for the week when cats were given meloxicam were significantly higher than baseline. Quality of life improved significantly with meloxicam.
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