No pain, much gain: The importance of pain management in pets
By Gina Spadafori
July 28, 2007
Two days ago my almost 11-year-old retriever, Heather, had a carnassial tooth removed. It’s an important tooth, and we really didn’t want to lose it. A root canal and crown was an option going in, but wasn’t possible — one of the roots was really a mess. So, the tooth came out, along with a little bit of her jaw that was ground down, and then everything was sutured back up.
Yipes, just writing that makes me queasy. You know that’s gotta hurt.
Fortunately for Heather, my veterinarian is very up on pain control, and my dog was well-medicated going into the procedure and has been ever since. She’s feeling no pain now, and considering what a mess that tooth was, that’s a good thing. (The picture is her resting on the couch the morning after surgery, a little out of it.) All hail good pain meds!
Pain management in veterinary medicine has come a long, long way since I started writing about pets and their care in the ’80s. Unfortunately, some veterinarians either haven’t kept up or hold to the outdated belief that pain is a good thing in recuperating pets, because it keeps them from moving around much.
Christie’s a bit of an expert when it comes to managing pain in pets, in part because of how much she had to learn in dealing with Raven’s bone cancer. It’s no surprise that veterinary oncologists know lots of pain-management techniques, and they are good at concocting drug cocktails that provide dying pets with good quality of life until the end.
Writing on the Vet Tech blog, though, Christie laments that some veterinarians are still sending patients home with a pain medication that’s less than effective. If nothing else, read the piece and use it as a way to educate yourself, so you can have an informed discussion with your veterinarian on your pet’s behalf in regards to pain-management protocols.
I’ve been with my veterinarian for a long time, and he’s first-rate. That’s why I was not at all surprised at his aggressive pain-management plan for Heather, a combination of three medications complementing each other to ease her way through a very nasty procedure.
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Other good reads can be found this weekend on Lassie Get Help and the ever-popular Dolittler. Lassie’s Luisa is a teacher, I think she mentioned, which is why she writes so much in the summer and not so much in the fall. It’s good stuff, regardless. And as for Dolitter, well, what more can we say? Dr. Khuly is just plain awesome.
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No, you can’t read it for free. You have to subscribe or buy the issue (the latter option can be done quickly, with a downloadable PDF). But the Whole Dog Journal has a extensive article in the current issue by the wonderful Mary Straus on the many ways people prepare raw diets at home. Since the pet-food recall, there has been a lot of interest in the subject, of both raw and cooked diets for pets.
Our view here is that it’s not a good idea to “Just Do It” when it comes to home-prepared meals, whether they’re cooked, raw, have bones or are ground. But we also believe that it’s nonsense to say — as some in the pet-food industry do — that preparing meals at home for the pets is so complicated that you need the constant guidance of your veterinarian and help from a PhD veterinary nutritionist.
Hey, you manage to feed yourself and your family, don’t you? It’s not any more difficult to do so for your pets, once you understand the basics and the risks. You’ll find any number of books that can provide you with help, but this WDJ piece is a good start if you’re interested in finding out more.
Is she bleeding much? When our cocker spaniel had a large canine removed she bled for days, scaring me to death. I came home once and it looked like OJ had just left. (Bad joke, but it was appropriate at the time.)
That, incidentally, is what made me swear to brush my next dog’s teeth regularly. And I do.
Comment by KathyF — July 29, 2007 @ 11:32 am
No bleeding. And she’s feeling MUCH better this morning (three days post-op).
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 29, 2007 @ 11:33 am
I guess my cat’s pain is less than Gina’s dog.
I try to get her claw nails clipped regularly, but I neglected them due to the very hot weather which leaves me not able to think about much else except how can I stay cool.
She had three ingrown nails. Two were removed this afternoon but she will have to wait until next week to have the third done. Sloppiness on my part. Poor baby has trouble walking, which I thought was due to old age (14 yrs).
I feel her pain until she gets it taken care of, even though the pain is minor compared to a real operation or an accident. I also feel so much guilt for overlooking her needs.
Sometimes the cat does not tell me what she needs, in fact it is that way with me a lot of times. I do the best I can, though.
Comment by Evelyn — July 29, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
I hope Heather’s all better soon! Thanks for this information. I found out a while back that there now are even pain patches for pets, that’s gotta be good news, too, all around.
Comment by Sandy — July 29, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Gina, my cat is going to look out of it just like your dog because she needs two teeth pulled, at least. We shall find out the full story next week when the vet sedates her and starts pulling.
I took her for her nails to be clipped and now I found out about her teeth.
My vet sends his patients home with pain medication, and he is fully aware of what the animals need after surgery to make them comfortable.
Comment by Evelyn — July 30, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
About feeding raw food with bone: one of my dogs (60 lbs) ate raw chicken wings in the morning - 4 - and had to be rushed to the emergency room that night. She was in pain, panting, restless - the diagnosis: a calcium clump in the lower intestines. She was given an enema and later the next day I gave her one at home and increased her oil intake - no more bones for her.
I had never read about this problem in any of the books I have on feeding raw food and uncooked bones. Also, another problem from the bones was seen on the ex-rays, and I can’t remember the exact term, and I was warned that if she became lethargic to rush her back.
All in all it was not a good experience. I also gave the raw chicken wings to a 90 lb dog who had no problem with them - he ate five.
I don’t know if the problem is typical. As she knaws on bones and she had eat one chicken wing at a time with no problem before. The four did not seem excessive - they were smaller.
The emergency vet said that the stomach acids would dissolve the bones fine but then when they hit the lower intestines - when the water is “sucked” out - that’s where the problem begins with gas and pain and a clump like concrete sitting there.
Live and learn.
Comment by Jamie — July 31, 2007 @ 9:15 am
Chewing raw bones can break teeth. All the books I have on raw diet (including raw bones) never mentioned any of this - and we are talking about a wing, not a thigh bone.
http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/bones.html
Comment by Jamie — July 31, 2007 @ 10:49 am