Effects on behavioural variables of oral versus transdermal buspirone administration in cats displaying urine marking

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of included patient characterization (N = 34).

Males	67%	Females	33%
Neutered	44%	Sterilized	75%
Unneutered	56%	Intact	25%
Habits		Household
Indoor	17%	House	67%
Partial indoor	79%	Apartment	13%
Outdoor	4%	Lot	21%
Coexists with other cats?		Free access to all household spaces?
Yes	88.23%	Yes	58%
No	11.76%	No	42%
Litter box(es) available?		Type of litter box substrate
0	25%	Natural	50%
1	58%	Agglutinative	28%
2	4%	Antibacterial	6%
≥3	13%	Other	6%
Feeding frequency		Type of food
≥2 /day	38%	Commercial	100%
Ad libitum	62%
Social behaviour
Aggression problems	46%	Problems socializing with humans	50%

Table 2. Improvement criteria.

Criteria	Description
Healthy	Patient reduced frequency of urine marking to zero
Slightly healthier	Patient reduced frequency of urine marking by at least 25% in relation to pre-treatment frequency
Sick	Patient continued marking with equal or greater frequency

Figure 1. Results obtained by improvement criteria for each experimental group.

Table 3. Number of pre- and post-treatment urine markings by treatment type.

Buspirone Gel PLO	No. daily markings pre-treatment	No. daily markings post-treatment	% Change
1	3	1	−67
2	3	1	−67
3	7	<1	−86
4	10	0	−100
5	4	2	−50
6	10	1	−90
7	3	3	−100
8	1	0	−100
9	3	0	−100
10	2	0	−100
11	3	<1	−67
12	5	2	−60
13	3	1	−67
14	7	3	−57
15	4	0	−100
16	1	0	−100
17	1	0	−100
Buspirone Tablets	No. daily markings pre-treatment	No. daily markings post-treatment	% Change
1	5	0	−100
2	5	0	−100
3	1	0	−100
4	4	0	−100
5	5	0	−100
6	3	1	−67
7	12	12	0
8	1	1	0
9	1	0	−100
10	3	0	−100
11	1	0	−100
12	3	4	33
13	5	3	−40
14	2	0	−100
15	1	0	−100
16	4	1	−75
17	3	1	−67

Table 4. Results obtained by group and criteria for improvement.

Group (form of buspirone administration)	Healthy		Slightly healthier		Sick		Total
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
1 (oral)	10	58.82	4	23.52	3	17.64	17	100
2 (transdermal)	8	47	9	53	0	0	17	100

Note: N = 34.