Received: 20 July 2020 Revised: 7 October 2020 Accepted: 3 December 2020 DOI: 10.1002/vetr.18 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Evaluation of Pexion® (imepitoin) for treatment of storm anxiety in dogs: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial Irina Perdew1 Carrie Emke1 Brianna Johnson1 Vaidehi Dixit2 Yukun Song2 Emily H. Griffith2 Philip Watson3 Margaret E. Gruen1 1 Department of Clinical Sciences, North Abstract Carolina State University College of Background: While often grouped with other noise aversions, fearful Veterinary Medicine, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA behaviour during storms is considered more complex than noise aversion 2 Department of Statistics, North Carolina alone. The objective here was to assess the effect of imepitoin for the treat- State University College of Sciences, Raleigh, ment of storm anxiety in dogs. North Carolina, USA Methods: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised study, eligible 3 Ingelheim am Rhein, Boehringer-Ingelheim dogs completed a baseline then were randomised to receive either imepitoin Vetmedica GmbH, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, (n = 30; 30 mg/kg BID) or placebo (n = 15) for 28 days. During storms, owners Germany rated their dog’s intensity for 16 behaviours using a Likert scale. Weekly, own- Correspondence ers rated intensity and frequency of these behaviours. Summary scores were Margaret E. Gruen, Department of Clinical compared to baseline and between groups. Sciences, North Carolina State University Results and Conclusions: Imepitoin was significantly superior to placebo in College of Veterinary Medicine, 1060 William Moore Drive, Raleigh NC 27607, USA. storm logs and weekly surveys for weeks 2 and 4, and in the end-of-study sur- Email:
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