Acta vet. scand. 2002, 43, 247-252. Analgesic Effect of Meloxicam in Canine Acute Dermatitis – a Pilot Study By O. Viking Höglund, and J. Frendin Arninge Djurklinik, Täby, and Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Uppsala, Sweden. Viking Höglund O. and Frendin J: Analgesic effect of meloxicam in canine acute dermatitis – a pilot study. Acta vet. scand. 2002, 43, 247-252. – A double-blind trial was performed on 12 client-owned dogs suffering from acute and painful dermatitis. Clinically these cases represented pyotraumatic dermatitis and pyotraumatic folliculitis. Six dogs were injected with meloxicam and 6 were given placebo. Signs of pain were recorded on a visual analogue scale before administering the drug. This was repeated over the following 2-3 days. All dogs were treated with cephalexin orally. Six dogs given meloxicam and cephalexin showed an average decrease of pain on day 2 of 28.3%, whereas the 6 dogs given placebo and cephalexin showed an average decrease of pain on day 2 of 8.3%. When compared in the Wilcoxon two-sample test, using change in percent and absolute change, the 2 groups yielded p = 0.026 and p = 0.064 respectively. These ﬁndings indicate that meloxicam has an analgesic effect on acute dermatitis in dogs. dermatitis; meloxicam; NSAID; analgesic; canine; dogs; pain. Introduction The effect of nonsteroidal anti-inﬂammatory drugs (NSAID) on dermatitis is well known from human trials and research using rats and mice (Bayerl et al. 1998, Snyder 1975, Fleis- cher 1999). To the best of our knowledge only one study has been published showing whether any of the modern NSAID impact the inﬂam- matory process in acute dermatitis in the canine species (Kimura & Doi 1998). According to data sheets for medicines indi- cated for usage in humans and animals, meloxi- cam hinders the accumulation of leukocytes in inﬂamed skin and other tissues (Medical Prod- ucts Agency 2002). In addition, pruritus is a known side effect of this agent in canines (Me- dical Products Agency 2001) so meloxicam does have some effect in the dermis of canines. The aim of this study was to investigate the analgesic effect of meloxicam on acute der- matitis in the canine species. A second objec- tive was to measure signs of central sensitisa- tion, wind-up, after 3 weeks of treatment and to investigate whether the healing process is im- paired when canine dermatitis patients are treated with meloxicam. Materials and methods Animals Twelve client-owned dogs suffering from any kind of moist, and when pinched, painful der- matitis were included in this trial with their owners' consent. Painful dermatitis was deﬁned as a VAS-value beyond 10 millimetres (se be- low). The cases clinically represented pyotrau- matic dermatitis (acute moist dermatitis) and pyotraumatic folliculitis (local pyoderma). Acta vet. scand. vol. 43 no. 4, 2002