analgesic effects of acupuncture compared to tramadol and meloxicam in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy

Background: acupuncture has analgesic effects in animals. common analgesics, such as opioids and anti-inflammatory drugs, are widely used to control postoperative pain in cats, but they can cause serious side effects. on the other hand, acupuncture can play a crucial role in replacing this kind of drug. objectives: this study aims to evaluate the analgesic effects of acupuncture compared to tramadol and meloxicam on postoperative pain in cats after ovariohysterectomy.methods: forty-five adult stray cats were randomly distributed into three groups of fifteen animals each: tr: tramadol (2 mg/kg iv) administered before anesthesia induction; ml: meloxicam (0.2 mg/kg sc) administered after placement of the last skin suture; ac: bilateral acupoints from kidney 11 (ki-11) to kidney 17 (ki-17) were stimulated. postoperative pain was evaluated using the revised glasgow composite pain scale-feline and unesp-botucatu multidimensional composite pain scale (mcps) up to 24 h after surgery. rescue analgesia was provided intramuscularly with tramadol (2 mg/kg). data were analyzed using the kruskal-wallis, fisher’s exact probability test, and friedman test. p<0.05 is considered significant. results: mean pain scores did not significantly differ among groups at any time point (p>0.05). the pain score and prevalence of rescue analgesia did not differ from the treatment groups over 24 h.conclusion: based on this study, analgesic effects of acupuncture were like tramadol and meloxicam during the first 24 h after ovariohysterectomy in cats.