Current British veterinary attitudes to perioperative analgesia for dogs

Abstract

In March 1996, a questionnaire was sent to 2000 veterinary surgeons, primarily involved in small animal practice, to assess their attitudes to perioperative analgesic therapy in dogs, cats and other small mammals. This paper is concerned only with the data relating to dogs. The veterinary surgeons considered that pain was a consequence of all the surgical procedures specified, but there were differences in their treatment of pain. Some veterinarians considered that a degree of pain was necessary postoperatively to prevent excessive activity. In general, women and more recent graduates assigned higher pain scores to the procedures and were more likely to treat the pain with analgesics. A significant number of veterinarians consider the use of opiates or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs before surgical procedures, but relatively few appear to use combinations of different classes of analgesics either before or after operations.

Pain assessment in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy by midline or lateral celiotomy through use of a previously validated multidimensional composite pain scale

“…Even today, perioperative and postoperative pain is neglected in several animal species [8][9] , a fact closely related to the difficulty of recognition, management and treatment of animal pain.…”

Risks associated with preweaning mortality in 855 litters on 39 commercial outdoor pig farms in England

“…This may be linked to the greater empathy for pain in animals and more positive attitudes towards animal welfare reported in women (Capner et al, 1999;Huxley and Whay, 2006;Väisänen et al, 2008;Kielland et al, 2009;Laven et al, 2009). …”

Nigerian Veterinariansattitude and response to small animal pain management

“…Professional approach to pain management demands pre-empting and recognising pain perception, understanding relief modalities and instituting the best pain therapy. Despite the large empirical data on animals' pain perception studies (Capner et al, 1999;William et al, 2005;Hewson et al, 2006;Joubert, 2006;Weber et al, 2012), there is still an overall general low usage of analgesics in veterinary medicine (Flecknell, 2008;Bell et al, 2014).…”

“…Following Hansen and Hardie`s (1993) report on the attitude of veterinarians to pain recognition and management in companion animals, several articles have been published on the subject (Capner et al, 1999;William et al, 2005;Hewson et al, 2006;Joubert, 2006;Weber et al, 2012). A position paper by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) has also helped to standardize approach to pain management in dogs and cats (Epstein et al, 2015).…”

“…A position paper by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) has also helped to standardize approach to pain management in dogs and cats (Epstein et al, 2015). Similar articles have evaluated veterinarians attitude on analgesic usage in dogs and cats among Brazilian (Lorena et al, 2014), New Zealand (Williams et al, 2005), French (Hugonnard et al, 2004), Finnish (Raekallio et al, 2003), Canadian (Hewson et al, 2006), South African (Joubert, 2001) and the British (Capner et al, 1999) practitioners.…”