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. 2021 Jun;23(6):568-574.
doi: 10.1177/1098612X20967639. Epub 2020 Oct 28.

Owner evaluation of quality of life and mobility in osteoarthritic cats treated with amantadine or placebo

Hilary Shipley  1   2 , Kristi Flynn  1 , Laura Tucker  1   3 , Erin Wendt-Hornickle  1 , Caroline Baldo  1 , Daniel Almeida  1 , Sandra Allweiler  1   4 , Alonso Guedes  1
Affiliations

Owner evaluation of quality of life and mobility in osteoarthritic cats treated with amantadine or placebo

Hilary Shipley et al. J Feline Med Surg. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine if amantadine improves owner-identified mobility impairment and quality of life associated with osteoarthritis in cats.

Methods: Using a blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover design, 13 healthy client-owned cats with clinical and radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis and owner-identified mobility impairment were studied. Cats received 5 mg/kg amantadine or placebo q24h PO for 3 weeks each with no washout period in between. Locomotor activity was continuously assessed with a collar-mounted activity monitor system, and owners chose and rated two mobility-impaired activities using a client-specific outcome measures (CSOM) questionnaire on a weekly basis. Locomotor activity on the third treatment week was analyzed with two-tailed paired t-tests. The CSOM scores were analyzed using a mixed-effect model and the Bonferroni post-hoc test. Owner-perceived changes in quality of life were compared between treatments using the χ2 test. Statistical significance was set at P <0.05.

Results: Mean ± SD activity counts during the third week of each treatment were significantly lower with amantadine (240,537 ± 53,880) compared with placebo (326,032 ± 91,759). CSOM scores assigned by the owners were significantly better with amantadine on the second (3 ± 1) and third (3 ± 1) weeks compared with placebo (5 ± 2 and 5 ± 1, respectively). A significantly greater proportion of owners reported improvement in quality of life with amantadine compared with placebo.

Conclusions and relevance: Amantadine significantly decreased activity, but improved owner-identified impaired mobility and owner-perceived quality of life in cats with osteoarthritis. Amantadine appears to be an option for the symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis in cats.

Keywords: Degenerative joint disease; analgesia; chronic pain; musculoskeletal.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram for a blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover design study to evaluate the effects of amantadine on activity levels and owner-perceived mobility impairment and quality of life (QoL) in osteoarthritic cats. Cats were randomly assigned to receive amantadine (repackaged into capsules at a dose of 5 mg/kg for each cat) or a placebo treatment (cornstarch provided in the same type of capsules), q24h PO for 3 weeks, followed by the alternate treatment with no washout period in between. A collar-mounted accelerometer, client-specific outcome measures (CSOM) questionnaire scores and owners’ evaluation of changes in their cats’ QoL were used to assess outcomes for each treatment
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