Analgesic effects of acupuncture in comparison with tramadol and meloxicam in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Articles

Authors

1 Department of Surgery and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 1 Department of Surgery and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 2 Institute of Biomedical Research, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Sport Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4 Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: Acupuncture has shown to have analgesic effect in animals. Common analgesic such as opioids and anti-inflammatory drugs vastly used to control postoperative pain in cats, while they can cause serious side effects in this species. On the other hand, acupuncture can play important role in replacing this kind of drugs.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the analgesic effects of acupuncture in comparison with Tramadol and meloxicam on postoperative pain of cats after ovariohysterectomy.
Methods: Forty-five adult stray cats were included in a prospective, randomized and blinded clinical study. Anesthetic protocol included ketamine, diazepam and isoflurane. The animals were randomly distributed into three groups of fifteen cats each: TR: Tramadol (2 mg/kg IV) administered before anaesthesia induction; ML: Meloxicam (0.2 mg/kg SC) administered after placement the last skin suture; AC: bilateral acupoints from Kidney 11 (KI-11) to Kidney 17 (KI-17) were stimulated. Postoperative pain was evaluated up to 24 h after surgery using the revised Glasgow Composite Pain Scale-Feline and UNESP-Botucatu Multidimensional Composite Pain Scale. Rescue analgesia was provided with IM tramadol (2 mg/kg).
Result: Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis, the Fisher exact probability test and Friedman test. P<0.05 considered significant.
Mean pain scores did not significantly differ among groups at any time point (P>0.05). The pain score and prevalence of rescue analgesia was not different among treatment groups through 24 hours.
Conclusions: Based on this study, analgesic effects of acupuncture were similar to tramadol and meloxicam during the first 24 h after ovariohysterectomy in cats.

Keywords

Iranian Journal of Veterinary Medicine

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 January 2024

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