The effectiveness of a human drug that could provide pain relief for cats is among the studies that The Winn Feline Foundation is funding with grants announced in January.
Tramadol, recently shown to be safe for dogs, could also be a useful option for treating cats in pain. Veterinarians historically have not had a reliable medication they could trust to ease cats suffering, the foundation says.
The study will be performed by the University of California, Davis.
Six other study grants were announced by the foundation, an affiliate of the Cat Fanciers Association:
1. A defense mechanism in yeast, plants and mammals that could be used to prevent or treat cat flu.
2. A study to determine the percentage of healthy cats that are mistakenly diagnosed with heart murmurs or heart disease annually.
3. A new way to combat feline infectious peritonitis an infection that inflames blood vessels by breeding it out.
4. The possibility that stem cells can be used to treat red eye, known as corneal ulcers.
5. An investigation to understand the biology of two types of tumors.
6. Identification of the genes that caused a skull defect including a rounder head and occasionally a second jaw and incomplete head in Burmese kittens.
Posted: Jan. 24, 2006, 5 a.m. EST