252 O. Viking Höglund & J. Frendin Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Boehringer Ingel- heim for support with medical products and Dr G. Nyman, Assistant Professor at the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, for her scientiﬁc advice. There was no ﬁnancial support involved. References Alvarez OM, Levendorf KD, Smerbeck RV, et al: Ef- fect of topically applied steroidal and nonste- roidal anti-inﬂammatory agents on skin repair and regeneration. Fed Proceedings 1984, 43, 2793-2798. Bayerl C, Pagung R, Jung EG: Meloxicam in acute UV dermatitis – a pilot study. Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed. 1998, 14, 167-169. Bo J, Sudmann E, Marton PF: Effect of in- domethacin on fracture healing in rats. Acta Or- thop. Scand. 1976, 47, 588-599. Engelhardt, G, Homma D, Schlegel K, et al: Anti-in- ﬂammatory, analgesic, antipyretic and related properties of meloxicam, a new non-steroidal anti-inﬂammatory agent with favourable gas- trointestinal tolerance. Inﬂamm Res 1995, 44, 423-433. Firth A. M, Haldane S. L: Development of a scale to evaluate postoperative pain in dogs. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 1999, 214, 651-659. Fleischer AB Jr: Treatment of atopic dermatitis: Role of tacrolimus ointment as a topical noncorticos- teroidal therapy. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 1999, 104, 126-130. Giannoudis PV, MacDonald DA, Matthews SJ et al: Nonunion of the femoral diaphysis. The inﬂuence of reaming and non-steroidal anti-inﬂammatory drugs. J. Bone Joint Surg. Br. 2000, 82, 655-658. Harvey RG, McKeever PJ: A colour handbook of skin diseases of the dog and cat (2nd impression). Iowa State University Press, 2000, p 32. Kimura T, Doi K: Effects of indomethacin on sun- burn and suntan reactions in hairless descendants of Mexican hairless dogs. Histol. Histopathol. 1998, 13, 29-36. Lees P, Sedgwick AD, Higgins AJ, et al: Pharmaco- dynamics and pharmacokinetics of miloxicam in the horse, Br. Vet. J.,1991, 147, 97-108. Medical Products Agency, Box 26, S-751 03 Upp- sala, Sweden. Quirinia A, Viidik A: Diclofenac and indomethacin inﬂuence the healing of normal and ischaemic in- cisional wounds in skin. Scand. J. Plast. Reconstr. Surg. Hand. Surg. 1997, 31, 213-219. Reinke SI, Stannard AA, Ihrke PJ, et al: Histopatho- logic features of pyotraumatic dermatitis. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 1987, 190, 57-60. Rinder HM, Tracey JB, Souhrada M, et al: Effects of meloxicam on platelet function in healthy adults: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 2002, 42, 881-886. Rohde C, Anderson DE, Bertone AL, et al: Effects of phenylbutazone on bone activity and formation in horses Am J. Vet. Res. 2000, 61, 537-543. Scott, Miller, Grifﬁn: Muller and Kirk's Small Ani- mal Dermatology. (6th edn), W B Saunders Co, 2000, pp 238-239, 300-303, 1104. Snyder DS: Cutaneous effects of topical in- domethacin, an inhibitor of prostaglandin synthe- sis, on UV-damaged skin. J. Invest. Dermatol. 1975, 64, 322-325. Sammendrag Smärtstillande effekt av meloxicam vid akut dermatit, en pilotstudie. En dubbelblindad studie genomfördes på 12 hundar med akut och smärtsam dermatit. Kliniskt represen- terades dessa av pyotraumatisk dermatit (hotspot) och pyotraumatisk follikulit (pyodermi). Sex hundar injicerades med meloxicam och sex gavs placebo. Grad av smärta registrerades på en visuell analog skala (VAS) innan administrering av substans. Detta upprepades under de följande 2-3 dagarna. Alla hun- dar gavs cefalexin oralt. De 6 hundar som gavs meloxicam och cefalexin hade en smärtlindring med ett medelvärde av 28,3% efter ett dygn. De hundar som gavs placebo och cefalexin hade en smärtlin- dring med ett medelvärde av 8,3%. Jämförelse av grupperna i Wilcoxon tvåprovtest (rangsummatest) av procenduell och absolut förändring gav p = 0,026 respektive p = 0,064. Resultaten tyder på att meloxi- cam har smärtstillande effekt vid akut dermatit hos hundar. (Received May 23, 2002; accepted August 20, 2002). Reprints may be obtained from: O. Viking Höglund, Arninge Djurklinik, Ritarslingan 18, S-187 66 Täby, Swe- den. E-mail: oddviking@aol.com, tel: +46-8-6300290, fax: +46-8-6300917. Acta vet. scand. vol. 43 no. 4, 2002