Is Your Pet in Pain?

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Our pets often hide their pain or cope a lot better with pain than us humans do! With chronic pain that is progressive, it’s often difficult to see the signs when you live with your pet and see them every day as changes may be subtle. If in doubt, a vet check can be invaluable to identify whether pain is present and what is causing pain.

Signs of pain

These vary and different animals react differently. Very rarely do animals yelp or groan unless their pain is severe. The following are common indications of pain:

 

  • Changes in behaviour – not as interactive, hiding, unusually aggressive/protective, not excited about going for a walk or greeting visitors if they usually do, licking parts of their body or repetitively grooming, guarding or tensing if you touch a part of their body, restlessness, panting, reduced appetite.
  • Change in movement – not jumping onto furniture or heights as they normally would, not going up or down stairs or reluctant to as they normally would, slowness getting up and down to rest, not managing to easily squat or cock their leg to urinate, urinating inside (for cats, not in their litter box) stiff when moving or lame / limping, not managing to walk for as long.
  • Change in posture and muscling – do they sit more towards one side, stand with an arched spine or sway-back, have areas where the muscles have wasted, limp?

Monitoring for Change

Changes can be subtle over time, and monitoring is invaluable to ensure that there is an improvement with a treatment plan, as well as identifying any deterioration over time. Strategies include:

 

  • Take photos of their posture when they are standing – a side view and front view – and when they are lying down – a landscape view from head to tail.
  • Take videos of their movement – walking, running, and tighter movement of circling which can help to identify subtle lameness.
  • Pain Scoring – It can also be helpful to have some way to quantify their pain by giving them a “pain score” each day, i.e. if they are happy and bright, moving around easily and eating well, then, they would score a 10/10. However, if they are lethargic, not eating, guarded, panting, restless, etc. then they would get a 1/10. This can be documented in a diary to help monitor trends.

Management of Musculo-Skeletal Pain

Pets often have to navigate in environments that amplify their pain. It helps to think of being in their “paws” and what they need to contend with regarding the following:

 

  • Be mindful of obstacles that are difficult to navigate, such as stairs, platforms, heights, and slippery surfaces. Create strategies to minimise these such as ramps and matting to provide a good grip as they walk.
  • Raise their feeding bowl so that they don’t need to bend their necks down.
  • Provide soft and warm bedding (in a warm environment) that’s easily accessible on which they can comfortably get up and move.
  • Ensure that exercise meets your pet’s needs – for the appropriate time that doesn’t over-exert them or cause pain, gentle and low impact and on a surface that is comfortable and easy to move on.
  • For animals with neck pain, use a harness instead of a collar when going for walks
  • Ensure that their nails are kept trim (long nails can get caught, be painful, put pressure on the nail beds and even alter your pet’s posture), and if they have furry feet, trimming the excess fur may help them to get around on some surfaces.
  • Regular massage of tight muscles helps to improve their function and release tension.

Treatment options

Our aim is to get to the root of the problem and remove pain, but for some animals, this is not possible, and we create a pain management strategy if need be. Although an immediate and dramatic improvement to your pet’s quality of life is the goal, it can sometimes be a process rather than an immediate fix as every animal is an individual with unique needs.  We start with an initial plan, adjust with progress and then assess regularly to optimise results. The following are options for consideration:

 

  • Optimal nutrition.
  • Neutraceuticals and herbs to promote general well-being, support musculo-skeletal function and reduce pain.
  • Therapies such as acupuncture, osteopathy, massage, magnetic therapies, regenerative medicine, homeopathy, NIS, and others.
  • Physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, strengthening exercises, and controlled exercise.
  • Medications: Although most pets will improve dramatically with pain-relieving medication, different animals respond better to different medications and different combinations. We make adjustments based on their progress.

 

The right strategy depends on the severity of the pain, the needs of your pet, your needs and preferences, and which treatment options we consider will give the best result.

 

For more info, www.caninearthritis.co.uk has some wonderful resources.