Secondary prevention of cardiogenic arterial thromboembolism in the cat: the double-blind, randomized, positive-controlled feline arterial thromboembolism; clopidogrel vs. aspirin trial (FAT CAT)

Abstract Objectives To determine if clopidogrel administration is associated with a reduced likelihood of recurrent cardiogenic arterial thromboembolism (CATE) in cats compared to aspirin administration. Secondary aims were to determine if clopidogrel administration had an effect on the composite endpoint of recurrent CATE and cardiac death and to identify adverse effects of chronic clopidogrel or aspirin therapy. Animals Seventy-five cats that survived a CATE event. Methods Multicenter, double-blind, randomized, positive-controlled study. Cats were assigned to clopidogrel (18.75 mg/cat PO q 24 h) or aspirin (81 mg/cat PO q 72 h). Kaplan–Meier survival curves were created for each endpoint and the log rank test performed to compare treatment groups with respect to time to event and the likelihood of the event occurring. Results The mean age of all cats was 8.0 ± 3.5 yr and 57/75 (76%) were male (p  Conclusions Clopidogrel administration significantly reduces the likelihood of recurrent CATE compared with aspirin in cats; both drugs were well tolerated.