Efficacy of Procox® oral suspension for dogs (0.1 % emodepside and 2 % toltrazuril) against experimental nematode (Toxocara cati and Ancylostoma tubaeforme) infections in cats

Abstract

Two exploratory studies were performed to determine the optimum therapeutic dose of Procox® for the removal of experimental infection with mature adult Toxocara (T.) cati and Ancylostoma (A.) tubaeforme in kittens. Procox® is a new oral suspension containing a combination of the nematocidal and coccidiocidal active principles emodepside (0.1 %) and toltrazuril (2 %). In the first study, 18 eight-weeks-old kittens were inoculated with 450 L3 larvae of T. cati. 56 days after infection, the kittens were allocated to three treatment groups and were treated with 0.5 mg emodepside/kg body weight (group 1), 0.25 mg emodepside/kg body weight (group 2) and 0.1 mg emodepside/kg body weight (group 3), respectively. In the second study, 10 eight-weeks-old kittens were inoculated with 350 L3 larvae of A. tubaeforme. Four weeks after infection, the kittens were allocated to two treatment groups and were treated with 0.1 mg emodepside/kg body weight (group 1) or 0.25 mg emodepside/kg body weight (group 2). In both studies, all kittens received a reference treatment with Drontal® (230 mg pyrantel embonate and 20 mg praziquantel per tablet) at the recommended dose of one tablet/4 kg body weight 5 days after treatment with Procox®. Anthelmintic efficacy was calculated by reduction in worm numbers expelled with the faeces following treatment with Procox® as compared with faecal worm numbers after reference treatment with Drontal®, by thus avoiding necropsy of the animals. In the T. cati study, emodepside was at 99.9 %, 100 % and 96.5 % effective at a dosage of 0.5 mg, 0.25 mg and 0.1 mg per kg body weight, respectively. Against A. tubaeforme emodepside was at 95.7 % and 100 % effective at a dosage of 0.1 mg and 0.25 mg per kg body weight. No adverse events were seen during either study. It can be concluded that Procox® is efficacious for the control of mature adult T. cati and A. tubaeforme infections in cats at a single-dose rate of 0.25 mg emodepside/kg body weight.