Benefits of continuous long-term treatment of canine degenerative joint disease with carprofen

This multi-centre, randomized clinical field-study compared the benefits and risks of long-term and short-term treatment with carprofen for canine degenerative joint disease. Dogs with clinical signs of osteoarthritis were treated with carprofen (4 mg/kg once daily) for 14 (n=80) or 56 (n=83) days. Efficacy was assessed 14 and 56 days after treatment initiation. On day 56, veterinary assessment demonstrated significantly higher clinical improvement rate (P=0.0015) in the long-term treatment group (88%) compared to the short-term treatment group (63%). Owner assessment showed similarly high rates of clinical improvement with the long-term treatment 91% (vs 62% in the short-term treatment group; P=0.0001). While 37% of the dogs relapsed after completion of the 14 clay treatment regimen, only 6% of the dogs in the long-term group experienced a flare-up. Three dogs in each group experienced an adverse event associated with carprofen hut no serious drug-related adverse events were reported. Therefore, carprofen may be safely used for prolonged periods to treat degenerative joint disease in the clog. These results imply that continuous long-term therapy is not associated with increased risks and that it is more likely to yield successful clinical outcomes and thus improve quality of life than short courses of treatment.