Canine compulsive disorder: Clinical trial and initial pilot studies to understand its neurophysiology

Mami Irimajiri, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of these studies was to understand the neurophysiology of canine compulsive disorder (CD). A double-blind parallel-armed placebo-control clinical trial study was conducted with 64 CD dogs to evaluate the efficacy of fluoxetine, a type of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) which is widely and successfully used to treat human obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). We found that fluoxetine was an effective and well-tolerated medication for treating canine compulsive disorders. Fluoxetine group dogs were reported to be better than the placebo group by the sixth week, according to telephone interviews with owners (p<0.0005).The study concludes that fluoxetine can be strongly recommended to treat a variety of types of canine CD. Although canine CD is similar to human OCD in its response to fluoxetine, we have found that canine CD subjects experience a mild elevation in packed cell volume (PCV) which is not observed in human OCD patients. We have found that the length of CD behavior before starting medication and the mean cell volume (MCV) correlate with the efficacy of fluoxetine treatment. Several questions raised by this study are as follows: Is canine CD physiologically similar to human OCD? Is canine CD different from human OCD? Are all the conditions that we now call CD actually in this category? Some might resemble OCD and some might be similar to impulse control disorder or trichotillomania. The etiology of compulsive disorder in dogs needs to be studied more in depth to answer our questions and help us better understand canine CD for better prognosis and treatment. One possible test we suggest to answer our questions is the positron emission tomography (PET) test, a non invasive imaging technique that observes cerebral glucose metabolism. Our pilot PET study showed that there is no significant breed dependency in glucose metabolism. Thus, the data here can be utilized as a control for canine cerebral metabolism of CD dogs. PET is a promising imaging technique that addresses the questions raised by our study of canine CD.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Luescher, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Veterinary services

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