Analgesic effect and side effects of celecoxib and meloxicam in canine hip osteoarthritis

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the pharmacological, clinical and toxicological effects of celecoxib and meloxicam for analgesia for 30 days in dogs with hip osteoarthritis. Materials and methods: Twenty-four patients were evaluated, 75% were females with an average age of 7.16 ± 2.06 years and twenty five percent were males with an average age of 7.83 ± 2.22 years. All patients had hip osteoarthritis and they were randomized into two groups; one group received oral celecoxib 5 mg/kg every 12 hours during one month and the second group received oral meloxicam 0.2 mg/kg every 24 hours during 1 month. The patients were evaluated for analgesia, and hematological, renal, liver, and coagulation tests on days 0, 10th and 30th after treatment initiation, and a gastric endoscopy on day 30. Statistical analysis was performed using a HSD Tukey test and c2 with a 5% level of statistical significance. Results: Both drugs reduced articular pain according to the Melbourne scale during the 30 days of treatment (p=0.05). Hematological, renal, hepatic and coagulation tests were normal in both treatment groups. All patients presented chronic gastritis on endoscopy on day 30th. Conclusions: Both drugs decreased pain at day 30th without causing alterations in hematological, renal, hepatic or coagulation tests after 30 days of treatment. However, both drugs induced chronic gastritis.