Comparison of Robenacoxib and carprofen in palliative management of cancer pain.

Abstract

When dogs with cancer are no longer (or not at all) treated for their illness, a palliative treatment should be given to increase the wellbeing of the dog. Dogs express pain in many different ways, sometimes by very subtle changes in behaviour. A brochure was created to inform owners about dogs that suffer from pain due to cancer and how to recognize this pain. A blinded cross-over study was performed on 6 dogs with untreated tumors comparing Robenacoxib and carporal as a palliative therapy. These two NSAIDs were compared using three forms (scoring pain, quality of life and adverse events), filled in weekly by the owners of the dogs. During 4 weeks every dog received either carprofen or Robenacoxib, they then had a wash-out period of one day without pain medication. Subsequently the other medication (either Robenacoxib or carprofen) was given during the next 4 weeks. When looking at the interim results, using a paired samples t-test and an independent samples t-test no significant differences between the two medications were found. Further research by examining more dogs is necessary to obtain more data. It is important to see whether or not a significant difference could be acquired between the medications in the future.