Pregabalin Monotherapy for Chronic Pain Associated with Osteoarthritis in Working Dogs: A Retrospective Study of 21 Cases
- 1Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, , Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea;
- 2Department of Veterinary Medicine, Armed Forces Medical Research Institute, Daejeon 34059, Republic of Korea; (G.P.); (J.Y.); (D.-g.A.)
Abstract
Degenerative joint disease, including osteoarthritis (OA), is frequently diagnosed in working dogs and is a major cause of retirement or euthanasia. Pregabalin is a gabapentinoid used mainly for neuropathic pain, but evidence for pregabalin monotherapy in canine OA-related chronic pain is limited. Of 702 cases screened, this retrospective study included 21 working dogs with radiographically confirmed OA and chronic pain of at least three months’ duration that received pregabalin monotherapy (4 mg/kg PO q12h). Handler-completed Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD), Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI) pain severity score (PSS), and pain interference score (PIS) at baseline and at 14 ± 3 days were compared using paired t-tests, with predefined responder criteria applied to individual dogs. LOAD, CBPI-PSS, and CBPI-PIS decreased by 2.33, 0.67, and 1.00 points, respectively (all p < 0.001). However, only 5 of 21 dogs (23.8%) met the LOAD responder criterion and 3 of 21 (14.3%) met the CBPI criterion. No adverse effects were recorded. Although scores decreased significantly at the group level, clinically meaningful improvement was limited, and the uncontrolled design precludes causal inference. Controlled studies are needed to determine whether pregabalin has a role when non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use requires caution.
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BibTeX
@article{lee2026pregabalin,
title = {{Pregabalin Monotherapy for Chronic Pain Associated with Osteoarthritis in Working Dogs: A Retrospective Study of 21 Cases}},
author = {Jungmo Lee and Gyeonggook Park and Junseok Yoo and Do-gyoon Ahn and Inhyung Lee},
journal = {Animals : an open access journal from MDPI},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ani16203186},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13700598},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Pregabalin Monotherapy for Chronic Pain Associated with Osteoarthritis in Working Dogs: A Retrospective Study of 21 Cases
AU - Jungmo Lee
AU - Gyeonggook Park
AU - Junseok Yoo
AU - Do-gyoon Ahn
AU - Inhyung Lee
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
DO - 10.3390/ani16203186
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13700598
AB - Degenerative joint disease, including osteoarthritis (OA), is frequently diagnosed in working dogs and is a major cause of retirement or euthanasia. Pregabalin is a gabapentinoid used mainly for neuropathic pain, but evidence for pregabalin monotherapy in canine OA-related chronic pain is limited. Of 702 cases screened, this retrospective study included 21 working dogs with radiographically confirmed OA and chronic pain of at least three months’ duration that received pregabalin monotherapy (4 mg/kg PO q12h). Handler-completed Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD), Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI) pain severity score (PSS), and pain interference score (PIS) at baseline and at 14 ± 3 days were compared using paired t-tests, with predefined responder criteria applied to individual dogs. LOAD, CBPI-PSS, and CBPI-PIS decreased by 2.33, 0.67, and 1.00 points, respectively (all p < 0.001). However, only 5 of 21 dogs (23.8%) met the LOAD responder criterion and 3 of 21 (14.3%) met the CBPI criterion. No adverse effects were recorded. Although scores decreased significantly at the group level, clinically meaningful improvement was limited, and the uncontrolled design precludes causal inference. Controlled studies are needed to determine whether pregabalin has a role when non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use requires caution.
SN - 2076-2615
ER -