248 O. Viking Höglund & J. Frendin Dogs showing no sign of pain when the affected area was pinched, dogs on current NSAID med- ication and dogs having suffered previous side effects when treated with meloxicam were ex- cluded from the study. One and the same person made the inclusion and exclusion decisions and conducted all examinations. Treatment protocol A randomised, controlled, double-blinded trial was designed. Dogs were divided into 2 groups of 6. Cases representing the 2 different diag- noses were evenly distributed between the 2 groups. All dogs were given antibiotics (cephalexin) at standard dosage. The average dosages of cephalexin of group one (treated) and 2 (control) were 18.8 mg/kg and 19.9 mg/kg respectively, twice daily. Dogs were treated with antibiotics for 20 days. In addition, group one was given meloxicam (Metacam, 5mg/ml, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH, Binger Straße 173, 55216 Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany), subcutaneously, at stan- dard dosage of 0.2mg/kg on day one, followed by oral treatment (Metacam oral suspension 1.5mg/ml) at standard dosage of 0.1mg/kg for the following one or 2 days, depending on re- sponse to treatment. The control dogs (group 2) were given an injec- tion of saline. On day 2, these control dogs were given oral treatment with ordinary sugar syrup diluted with water. This placebo treatment con- tinued for one or 2 days, depending on response to treatment. The examining veterinary surgeon and the own- ers were blinded for treatment. In addition, the results were assessed prior to decoding group identity. The nurse who administered the initial injection followed a randomised double- blinded protocol. A visual analogue scale (VAS) 0-100 mm was used to record pain. At the ﬁrst consultation on day 1, the dogs were examined and the affected Acta vet. scand. vol. 43 no. 4, 2002 area was pinched between the thumb and index ﬁnger. Signs of pain were observed and scored on the VAS. Painscore was judged by the inten- sity of physical reactions, such as tail no longer wagging, vocalising, head turning and signs of aggression in response to the applied stress (pinching). The dogs were re-examined the following day. An obvious change was deﬁned as a minimum decrease of painscore of 10 percent on the VAS. If no obvious improvement was noted on re-ex- amination, the owners were asked to return on the third day. Follow-up examination Assessment of treatment was based on tele- phone interviews and clinical examinations. All owners were interviewed approximately 20 days after initiation of therapy. The procedure for painscore was repeated in 4 of the dogs from group one and 3 from group 2. The skin was in- spected and tested for signs of wind-up, i.e. ob- servations were made of the dogs' reactions to Ta bl e 1 . Individual data derived from painscore on VAS, day one and two. Painscore Painscore Decrease of Decrease of day 1 day 2 painscore painscore (mm) (%) Group 1 Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Group 2 Case 7 Case 8 Case 9 Case 10 Case 11 Case 12 53,5 15 11,5 20 30,5 21,5 12,5 22,5 65 15 33 25 42,5 8,5 8,5 19 19 13,5 12,5 22 64,5 14 25 21 11 6,5 3 1 11,5 8 0 0,5 0,5 1 8 4 20,5 43,3 26,1 5 37,7 37,2 0 2,3 0,8 6,7 24,2 16