Schweizerische Vereinigung für Kleintiermedizin
Association Suisse pour la Médecine des petits Animaux
Associazione Svizzera per la Medicina dei Piccoli Animali
Swiss Association for Small Animal Medicine

FECAVA Newsletter – Mai 2020

2. Juni 2020

FECAVA is dedicating its May newsletter to pain management in small animals. I am flattered by the invitation to write an article on the recent advances in this crucial field of veterinary practice. I find that assessing and treating pain is a transverse and complex area of knowledge that belongs to all veterinarians working in the clinical field.

Pain management is far beyond giving a dose of drug A or B. It plays a huge role in animal welfare. Pain relief is part of a big picture that also includes minimizing stress, fear and anxiety in the hospital setting. This is usually accomplished with a fear-free approach, cat-friendly handling and nursing care techniques, etc. It involves the use of pharmacological but also non-pharmacological approaches. In humans, appropriate treatment of pain is associated with early recovery after surgery and shorter hospital stays. In animals with chronic conditions, pain management may reestablish the human-pet bond and improve the animals’ quality of life, mobility and sleeping disorders.

Attitudes and perception about pain and the issue of drug unavailability

Recent studies have shown that attitudes and perceptions of veterinarians towards the canine and feline pain management have improved but there is still a long way to go. For example, some veterinarians do not administer or prescribe analgesics when patients are discharged from the hospital (i.e. outpatients)*. In many countries, analgesia is suboptimal and analgesic availability is a major issue particularly with opioid analgesics. The inability of treating pain leads to animal suffering and contributes to the veterinarians’ compassion fatigue. The new World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) list of essential medicines is an important milestone to support drug availability in veterinary medicine. It supports previous campaigns supported by FECAVA related to availability and accessibility and supports further campaigns within this context.
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Paulo V Steagall, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVAA
Université de Montréal
WSAVA Global Pain Council, WSAVA Dental Guidelines Committee,
WSAVA Therapeutic Guidelines group

https://mailchi.mp/fecava/pain-management-in-pets-can-we-do-better