Easing your pet's pain

Kim Campbell Thornton • E-mail

Charlie, a 5-year-old orange-and-white cat, was in acute pain from a back injury. But when his owner took him to the veterinarian, surprisingly simple relief was at hand. No struggling to cram a pill down his throat, no trying to coax him to swallow a liquid.

“My veterinarian had been looking for an opportunity to try out a new ‘cocktail’ of drugs that goes into a needleless syringe and is applied to the gums,” says Charlie's owner, Marion Lane of New York City. Absorbed directly into the bloodstream, the medicine took effect within seconds. Charlie relaxed and soon fell asleep right where he was lying. He enjoyed sweet, soothing sleep for the next six to eight hours.

Charlie was lucky that his veterinarian was able to offer such quick, effective pain relief. A little more than a decade ago, pain management wasn’t an issue for many veterinarians. They didn’t have a clear understanding of how animals experienced pain, and few drugs were available that could help.

Managing pain in animals has always been a challenge because cats and dogs can’t say where or how much it hurts. Beyond that communication gap, animals — especially cats — often try to hide their pain, an instinctive behavior dictated by the premise that the weak don’t survive.

Owners are demanding it
In the past 10 years, however, veterinarians have focused on pain relief for pets, and managing pain in companion animals will be one of the two or three defining issues of veterinary medicine in the first half of the 21^st century, says William Tranquilli, a professor of veterinary clinical medicine at the University of Illinois in Urbana.

What changed? Part of the answer lies in increased demand by pet owners. “Many of the questions we as anesthesiologists are asked on a daily basis are about pain and anxiety,” says Alicia Karas, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Mass., and a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia.

Signs your pet may be in pain — Unusual behavior or changes in behavior — Flinching or growling when a painful area is touched — “Chattering” when sore gums are rubbed — Loss of appetite — Limping or moving slowly or stiffly — Reluctance to go for walks, go up or down stairs, or to jump on or off furniture

Owner concern, plus their own interest in animals, led anesthesiologists, surgeons and intensive-care veterinarians to look more closely at animals in pain and try to do a better job of recognizing and treating it. Dogs and cats have been the main beneficiaries of this interest. Not enough is known yet about treating pain in birds, reptiles and other pets such as ferrets, Karas says, adding "we are using some pain meds in birds, and we are studying how best to treat them, so progress is being made."

The treatment Lane’s veterinarian used for Charlie includes a morphine derivative that’s usually injected. What’s new is the idea of placing it in a medication syringe and applying it to the gums. This makes it easy for owners to give it at home as needed, a relief for people with cats, which are often reluctant if not downright unwilling to swallow pills or liquids. Lane keeps a filled syringe on hand in case Charlie has another episode.

What’s also different is using this type of drug with a cat. Veterinarians once believed that opioids such as morphine couldn’t be used in cats because they metabolized the drugs differently than dogs and humans. “We can and do treat cats with these drugs quite effectively,” Karas says.

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