822 AJVR, Vol 68, No. 8, August 2007 G oniometry provides a rapid and reliable method to quantify the ROM of joints. 1 The reliability and re- producibility of goniometry have been well document- ed for human and canine patients. 1-6 Goniometry is a clinical method frequently used by orthopedic surgeons and physical rehabilitation clinicians in human and vet- erinary medicine to evaluate the severity of joint inju- ries and to monitor the progression of joint disease and the response to treatment. 7-9 In dogs, goniometry has been used to assess joint disease and treatment efficacy for several joints including carpus, 10 elbow, 11-14 tarsus, 15 stifle, 16 and hip joints. 17,18 To our knowledge, goniom- etry has not been validated for use in cats and only one study 15 has used goniometry in this species. In contrast to common knowledge concerning osteoarthritis and other joint diseases in dogs, aware- ness and understanding of arthrology in cats are still Validity of goniometric joint measurements in cats Gayle H. Jaeger, DVM, MSpVM; Denis J. Marcellin-Little, DEDV; Venita DePuy, MStat; B. Duncan X. Lascelles, BVSc, PhD Objective—To compare and validate goniometric joint measurements obtained from non- sedated and sedated cats with measurements from radiographic evaluation. Animals—20 adult cats with no evidence of joint disease. Procedures—Measurements of flexion and extension of the carpus, elbow, shoulder, tarsus, stifle, and hip joints and of carpal and tarsal joints during varus and valgus angu- lation were made by a single investigator before and after sedation of cats. Measure- ments were made by use of a goniometer with a masked dial. Joint angle measure- ments were compared between nonsedated and sedated cats and also with measure- ments from radiographs made while cats were sedated. Each series of measurements was repeated 4 times. To evaluate repeatability, Cronbach α values were calculated for repeated measure results of goniometric joint measurements of nonsedated and se- dated cats. An intraclass correlation was calculated to determine reliability among the 3 measurement types (ie, measurements from nonsedated and sedated cats and on radiographic evaluation). Results—Joint measurements did not differ significantly by measurement type, when comparing radiographic measurements with goniometric measurements in sedated and nonsedated cats. Cronbach α values were > 0.99 for goniometric joint measurements with- in individual nonsedated and sedated cats and also for comparison of mean meaurements obtained from sedated cats versus nonsedated cats versus radiographs. An intraclass cor- relation of 0.999 revealed high reliability among measurement types. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results indicated that goniometric joint measurements in nonsedated and sedated cats are repeatable and valid. (Am J Vet Res 2007;68:822–826) in their infancy. The awareness of joint diseases in cats and treatment modalities have recently increased, and several reports 19-23 have investigated the incidence of joint disease in cats via retrospective evaluation of ra- diographs of cats admitted to veterinary hospitals for a variety of reasons. Osteoarthritis has a suggested inci- dence of 20% to 30% in cats, increasing to 90% in cats > 12 years old, although this is not based on complete radiographic evaluations of cats and includes axial skel- eton degenerative joint disease. 22 Evaluating only the appendicular joints, 64 of 100 cats (mean age, 15 years) had radiographic evidence of appendicular joint oste- oarthritis. 22 Results of a similar study 20 revealed that 22% of 262 cats had radiographic evidence of appen- dicular joint osteoarthritis when ≥ 1 synovial joint was included on the radiograph, and a third study 19 found that 16.5% of 218 cats had radiographic evidence of appendicular osteoarthritis. With the appreciation that appendicular joint disease in cats is common, an increasing interest exists in medical and surgical mo- dalities for treatment of osteoarthritis and other joint diseases of cats, including the administration of non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 24 and arthroscopic and surgical evaluation and treatment. 15,25 However, no Received May 28, 2006. Accepted February 14, 2007. From California Veterinary Specialists, 100 N Rancho Santa Fe Rd, Ste 133, San Marcos, CA 92069 (Jaeger); the Orthopedics Research Laboratory (Marcellin-Little) and Comparative Pain Research Laboratory (Lascelles), Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606; and Biostatistics, INC Research, 4700 Falls of Neuse Rd, Ste 400, Raleigh, NC 27609 (DePuy). The authors thank Geri Wagner, Victoria Fong, and Barbara Ratterree for technical assistance. Address correspondence to Dr. Lascelles. ABBREVIATION ROM Range of motion