Comparative acceptability of Rilexine® (Virbac) and two other formulations of cephalexin containing antibiotics

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Celine Nicolas, Sandrine Fournel and Christelle Navarro

Virbac Group, France

: J Vet Sci Med Diagn

Abstract

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Cephalexin is a first-line antibiotic with a large spectrum widely used in veterinary medicine. Acceptability of this product by cat is of great importance to allow management of infections. The aim of this study was to compare the acceptability of 3 different cephalexin-containing antibiotics: Rilexine®75 mg (Virbac, France), Therios®75 mg (Ceva, France) and Cefaclear® 75 mg (Kyoritsu, Japan). 30 cats (domestic shorthairs, ≥9 months of age and average body weight: 3.6 kg) were divided into 3 groups and received a single administration of each product, in a different, randomized order per group (random cross-over) for 3 days: on days 1, 2 and 3, Group 1 received Rilexine®, Therios® and Cefaclear® respectively, Group 2 received Therios®, Cefaclear® and Rilexine®, respectively and Group 3 received Cefaclear®, Rilexine® and Therios®, respectively. The person giving the tablet was blinded concerning the products, which were named with letters A, B or C. The tablet was put in a bowl for 2 minutes and then presented in the hand of the experimenter (with glove) for 30 seconds if the cat did not take it in the bowl. A monitoring sheet with informations concerning intake (bowl, hand or no intake) and consumption (total, partial or none) for every cat was filled each day. A general mixed model for correlated data assuming a binomial distribution and a logit link was used to compare the 3 groups. Pair wise comparisons were performed at the 5% significant threshold. The number of cats (%) taking the product (in bowl or hand) were: 26/30 (86.7%), 20/30 (66.7%) and 23/30 (76.7%) for Rilexine®, Therios® and Cefaclear®, respectively. The number of cats (%) consuming the whole product were: 23/30 (76.7%), 20/30 (66.7%) and 20/30 (66.7%), respectively. Although not significantly different, more cats took and consumed Rilexine than the 2 other products, suggesting a better acceptability of Rilexine. In conclusion, Rilexine® is taken and consumed spontaneously by most cats. This good acceptability should allow good treatment compliance, which is of interest for long-term management of skin infections, for example.

Biography

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Céline Nicolas graduated in Veterinary Medicine and received PhD from the University of Nantes (France). She then worked as a Post-doctoral fellow and Research Assistant at the University of Bristol (UK) for 5 years and at the University of Nice (France ) for 2 years. She has published a dozen articles in reputed journals and joined Virbac in 2016 to work as a Scientific Writer in the Medical department, in 2016.

Email: celine.nicolas@virbac.com