A shellfish complement generally given to pets may additionally assist ease age-related joint ache in massive cats equivalent to lions and tigers, early analysis suggests.
Scientists have discovered captive felines who took antinol – a meals complement derived from a kind of shellfish generally known as the New Zealand green-lipped mussel – recurrently for six weeks noticed an enchancment of their mobility by as much as 30%.
Dr Jon Bielby, an animal welfare researcher at Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, mentioned: “Big cats in captivity tend to live longer than their wilder counterparts.
“Many develop musculoskeletal diseases such as osteoarthritis and degenerative joint disease that compromises the welfare.”
He mentioned this makes them “more inactive and, sadly, less visible to zoo publics”.
Dr Bielby mentioned that whereas surgical procedure is an possibility for treating these circumstances, it may be invasive and is sort of dangerous, particularly underneath normal anaesthetic.
Medication may show pricey and comes with negative effects, he added, making meals dietary supplements equivalent to antinol – typically given to dogs and cats – a less expensive and probably viable different.
For the examine, printed within the journal Vet Records, the researchers recruited 13 totally different species of huge cats, together with lions, tigers, leopards, pumas, jaguars and lynx, on the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent.
A complete of 18 animals, aged between 4 and 18 years, got a day by day antinol complement with their meals and the dosage was primarily based on their weight.
The researchers measured the variety of steps every massive cat took per minute for a interval of six weeks.
Results confirmed the steps per minute elevated between 7% and 30% after the dietary supplements took impact.
While it’s not clear how the complement works, Dr Bielby mentioned antinol could include sure lipids – like fatty acids – that assist cut back irritation, and consequently, ease joint ache.
Dr Bielby mentioned: “This suggests that green-lipped mussel extracts is associated with some alleviation of age-related pain and increased mobility in these animals.”
He is now hoping additional analysis will be finished to grasp how the complement works and whether or not it might have an effect on pace in addition to various kinds of actions.
Dr Bielby mentioned: “For a starting point, we have got quite a strong signal across quite a mismatched group of animals.
“This is something we can think about using now within zoos because there’s a decent amount of evidence here that green-lipped mussels extract actually does something.”
