Effects of intranasal maropitant on clinical signs of naturally acquired upper respiratory disease in shelter cats
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Date
2025-02-26
Open Access Location
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SAGE Publications on behalf of the nternational Cat Care Veterinary Society and Feline Veterinary Medical Association
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(c) 2025 The Author/s
CC BY-NC 4.0 Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)
CC BY-NC 4.0 Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that intranasally administered maropitant citrate would reduce the severity of clinical signs of feline upper respiratory disease (FURD) in shelter cats with naturally acquired disease.
METHODS: Shelter cats with clinical signs of FURD were randomly assigned to receive either intranasal maropitant diluted in saline (maropitant citrate 10 mg/ml q12h, diluted 1:10 with sterile 0.9% saline) or intranasal 0.9% saline q12h for 7 days. Clinical disease severity was measured at entry into the study and again after completion of 7 days of treatment using a visual analogue scale to assess four separate clinical signs: conjunctivitis, blepharospasm, ocular discharge and nasal discharge. Total disease severity was also calculated. Cats received other medications for FURD as per standard shelter protocols, and all investigators were masked to group assignments. A Mann-Whitney U-test was performed to compare the clinical improvement score (CIS) between the treatment and control groups.
RESULTS: There were 34 cats in the maropitant treatment group; 27 cats served as placebo controls. Groups did not differ in age, sex distribution, nature of disease, administration of other medications for FURD or baseline clinical disease severity. There was no significant difference in CIS between the maropitant treatment and control groups for conjunctivitis, blepharospasm, ocular discharge, nasal discharge or total disease severity after 7 days.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study found no significant difference in outcomes for cats with FURD when treated with intranasal maropitant compared with treatment with intranasal saline. Further investigations would be required before intranasal maropitant could be recommended as the standard of care for FURD.
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Keywords
Maropitant, NK1 receptor, intranasal, substance P, upper respiratory disease, Animals, Cats, Cat Diseases, Administration, Intranasal, Female, Male, Quinuclidines, Treatment Outcome, Muscarinic Antagonists, Respiratory Tract Diseases
Citation
Parncutt J, Johnson LR, Subharat S, Oke B, Hill KE. (2025). Effects of intranasal maropitant on clinical signs of naturally acquired upper respiratory disease in shelter cats.. J Feline Med Surg. 27. 2. (pp. 1098612X241309826-).