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Osteoarthritis is a developmental disease that progresses as the canine ages. While incurable, there are ways to help mitigate the severity of the disease. Geriatric patients often have pain, lowered mobility, and decreased quality of life. Utilisation of clinical metrology instruments (CMIs), published pain management guidelines, multimodal medications, published quality of life scales, and the use of physical rehabilitation modalities/techniques enable the dog to live a full life. The dog's advancing age does not have to cause abrupt cessation of activities that all family members enjoy. Environmental modification and client education allow dogs to enjoy their entire life with their families.

Osteoarthritis is a developmental disease that progresses as the canine ages. While incurable, there are ways to help mitigate the severity of the disease. Geriatric patients often have pain, lowered mobility, and decreased quality of life. Utilisation of clinical metrology instruments (CMIs), published pain management guidelines, multimodal medications, published quality of life scales, and the use of physical rehabilitation modalities/techniques enable the dog to live a full life. The dog's advancing age does not have to cause abrupt cessation of activities that all family members enjoy. Environmental modification and client education allow dogs to enjoy their entire life with their families.

What is the job of attacking offensive midfielder in soccer? The position will be somewhere between the midfield and the forward line, which means that they’ll be able to influence the “attack” high up in the field. Local anaesthetics (LA) are similar. LA used to be the only pain management available to veterinary practitioners, whether small or large animal practice, some 40 years ago. These blocks were used to stop any nerve impulses produced by cutting during surgery. LA are currently used to reduce peri-operative pain, procedural pain and hopefully prevent chronic pain. This article will review a “how to guide” to provide local blocks.

Chronic pain is subtle and more difficult to recognise in both dog and cat patients. As veterinary nurses, we need to recognise both signs of chronic and neuropathic pain. Low-stress handling techniques should be employed with cats to reduce pain and distress that could exacerbate a pain state. While not many validated chronic pain scales are available for cats, assessment and recognition of feline chronic pain has been well described. Feline chronic pain conditions can be degenerative joint disease (DJD), non-DJD, nonmalignant pain and cancer pain. By learning about various feline chronic pain conditions and evidence-based treatments, we can alert our veterinarians quickly about changes that occur in the patient. One of our primary jobs is to educate owners about chronic pain to improve quality of life for our feline friends.

Pain management involves more than just the use of pharmaceutical or nutraceutical medications. Physical rehabilitation can be an aid in controlling pain whether post operative, from a disease process or as part of aging. In the USA veterinary technicians/nurses can become certified physiotherapist technicians/nurses; being able to recognise and score pain is a primary skill for the veterinary technicians certified in physical rehabilitation. One of the primary benefits of physical rehabilitation is reducing pain. The veterinary physiotherapist will perform a clinical evaluation aided by the physiotherapist tchnician/nurse. The physiotherapist nurse will be performing various physical modalities to the patient as prescribed by the physiotherapist. Mobility issues can be painful and are a common reason for geriatric patients to undergo physiotherapy.

Abdominal visceral pain of medical origin is one of the most frequent reasons for request of medical treatment in humans. Its control is of paramount importance not only for ethical reasons, but also because, if untreated, pain can cause a stress response leading to alterations concerning many organs and apparatuses. Causes of acute or chronic medical visceral pain in men are numerous, with pain originating from various regions of the body. Considering the similarities with regard to the nervous system between humans and other mammals, it is very likely that pathological conditions that cause visceral pain in men are painful in animals as well. Despite this, in veterinary practice medical visceral pain is rarely considered and poorly treated, often for the difficulty in its identification and for a lack of specific guidelines addressing this specific topic. Moreover, no detailed and specific information on this subject are available in the current literature. The present review lists the main pathologies likely responsible of medical abdominal visceral pain in the canine species, trying to summarize, for each considered condition, the available information regarding the pathogenesis and the management of pain.

Invertebrates are a broad group of animals that includes more than 90% of the estimated 10 million species in the world. Some species are abundantly used by man in scientific research and for human consumption. However, the current legislation is still very lacking about the protection toward conditions of pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm that these animals may suffer as a result of experimental practices, fishing and cooking. The purpose of this paper is to summarize what has already been stated by other Authors regarding the possibility that invertebrates (with a specific emphasis on cephalopods) can experience pain and suffering. The results of studies that show the existence, in these animals, of a number of elements that can be associated with the ability to feel pain and not only nociception are highlighted. Objective indicators (such as changes in physiological parameters) and behavioral attitudes of cephalopods that might be related to pain will be addressed as well.

It is now widely accepted that animals are able to experience pain in a similar way to humans. Acute and/or chronic pain is associated not only with many surgical procedures, but also with various medical diseases, where pain may increase morbidity and mortality. Moreover, some types of pain (e.g., neuropathic pain) can be considered as an illness in themselves. Recognizing pain and assessing its intensity are both essential for its effective management: If pain is not recognised, then it is unlikely to be treated. Two major problems account for the difficulties in pain diagnosis in veterinary patients: (1) animals are not able to verbalise and cannot refer to the state of pain they are experiencing and (2) almost all animal species tend instinctively to mask signs of pain and weakness. Therefore, pain recognition in a diseased animal may be challenging. However, practitioners can rely on different strategies, which can be put in place to reveal the presence of pain in their patients. A presumptive diagnosis, a clinical exam, the evaluation of psychomotor changes and pain expressions, the attribution of pain scores and the response to therapy are all tools which, especially when used in combination, can help the veterinary practitioner recognise a subject suffering from pain and allow a correct approach to therapy. This review summarizes the current available information regarding the methodology that could be applied in small companion animals for a correct diagnosis of pain, offering veterinarians with some “easy to use” tools to apply in their daily practice.

Contributors ix Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii About the Companion Website xv Chapter 1 Advancing Veterinary Pain Management into a New Era 1 Patricia R. Zehna Chapter 2 Pain Management Careers for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses 8 Mary Ellen Goldberg, Kristen Hagler, and Janel Holden Chapter 3 Pain Recognition in Companion Species, Horses, and Livestock 15 Cheryl Irzyk Kata, Samantha Rowland, and Mary Ellen Goldberg Chapter 4 Physiology of Pain 30 Kristen Cooley Chapter 5 Analgesic Pharmacology 42 Michelle Albino Chapter 6 Locoregional Analgesic Blocking Techniques 67 Mary Ellen Goldberg, Nancy Shaffran, Kim Spelts, David Liss, Tasha McNerney, Trish Farry, Samantha Rowland, and Jennifer L. Dupre Chapter 7 Surgical Pain Management 93 Tasha McNerney and Trish Farry Chapter 8 Analgesia for Emergency and Critical Care Patients 115 Kim Spelts and David Liss Chapter 9 Chronic Pain Management for the Companion Animal 125 Christopher L. Norkus Chapter 10 Analgesia for Shelter Medicine and Trap-Neuter-Return Programs 147 Mary Ellen Goldberg Chapter 11 Analgesia in Equine Practice 157 Samantha Rowland and Jennifer L. Dupre Chapter 12 Analgesia for Livestock and Camelids 185 Mary Ellen Goldberg Chapter 13 Analgesia in Exotic Animals 216 Kate Lafferty, Stephen J. Cital, and Mary Ellen Goldberg Chapter 14 Analgesia for Zoo Animal and Wildlife Practice 263 Lindsay Wesselmann, Stephen J. Cital, and Mary Ellen Goldberg Chapter 15 Nutritional Considerations for Pain Management in Dogs and Cats 286 Kara M. Burns Chapter 16 Physical Rehabilitation and the Veterinary Technician 295 Stephanie Ortel Chapter 17 The Veterinary Technician in Alternative Therapies 309 Stephanie Ortel, Mary Ellen Goldberg, Lis Conarton, Kari Koudelka, and Robin Downing Chapter 18 Pain Management for End-of-Life Care 331 Amir Shanan Appendices Appendix A: Formulary 340 Appendix B: Constant Rate Infusions Example Calculations 384 Appendix C: Critical Care Case Studies 393 Appendix D: Routine Case Protocols 396 Appendix E: Key Signs of Pain According to Chapters of Text 399 Appendix F: Further Reading 401 Index 403