Studies were primarily related to the assessment of pain in relation to surgical procedures , and no clear distinction was made concerning the onset of acute and chronic pain .
The metrics used within the tools appeared to focus primarily on the sensory aspect of pain , with no study clearly discriminating between the sensory and affective components of pain .
Objectives The objectives were to review systematic ally the range of assessment tools used in cats to detect the behavioural expression of pain and the evidence of their quality ; and to examine behavioural metrics ( considering both the sensory and affective domains ) used to assess pain .
Anti-nociceptive efficacy of carprofen, levomethadone and buprenorphine for pain relief in cats following major orthopaedic surgery.
A placebo-controlled , r and omized blind study was conducted in cats ( n = 60 ) after fracture repair to compare the analgesic effects as well as the side-effects of carprofen , buprenorphine and levomethadone during a 5-day treatment . Cats with severe shock symptoms or increases in blood urea nitrogen ( BUN ) and creatinine were excluded from the study . The cats were r and omly assigned to four groups ( n= 15 ) . In group 1 , carprofen was administered upon extubation at an initial dose of 4 mg/kg body weight , followed by one-third of that dose three times daily on days 2 to 5 . In group 2 , buprenorphine was administered in a single dose of 0.01 mg/kg body weight upon extubation and subsequently every 8 h. Levomethadone ( group 3 ) was applied according to the same scheme at a dosage of 0.3 mg/kg body weight each time . The placebo ( group 4 ) was given at the same time intervals as the opioids . Examinations were carried out prior to anaesthesia , between 30 min and 8 h after extubation , and on the following 4 days , 1 h after administration of the analgesics or the placebo as well as 1 h before the next administration . Pain and sedation evaluation was carried out with a visual analogue system ( VAS ) and with the aid of a numerical estimation scale ( NRS ) . Pain was also scored by measuring mechanical nociceptive threshold of traumatized tissue . Plasma glucose and cortisol concentration , heart rate , respiration rate , blood pressure and body temperature were measured . Furthermore , a complete blood count and clinical chemistry including BUN , creatinine , alanine aminotransferase ( ALT ) , glutamate dehydrogenase ( GLDH ) , arterial blood pressure ( AP ) , total protein and electrolytes of the cats were checked on the day of admission as well as on the last day of this study ( day 5 ) . Defaecation and urination as well as wound healing were monitored . On the basis of the mechanical nociceptive threshold of the traumatized tissue , concentrations of plasma glucose and cortisol and pain assessment using NRS and VAS , carprofen was found to have better anti-nociceptive efficacy when compared with the two opioid analgesics , while the analgesic effect of levomethadone was similar to that of buprenorphine . However , the carprofen group also showed comparably high median NRS and VAS pain scores in addition to occasional broad deviations from the group mean on the first post-operative treatment day . Sedative effects were detected for buprenorphine and levomethadone ; in addition , symptoms of central excitation were noted with levomethadone . There was no indication of any clinical ly relevant respiratory depressive or cardiovascular effects , nor of any undesired renal , gastrointestinal or hepatic effects of the analgesics applied . However , the somewhat insensitive examination methods did not permit sufficient evaluation of side-effects , particularly on the gastrointestinal tract and the kidneys . It was found that carprofen and buprenorphine were well-tolerated analgesics for a 5-day administration in the cat , whereas levomethadone caused central excitation in some cases in the dosage scheme used here . However , it was apparent that none of the tested analgesics induced sufficient analgesia in the post-operative phase . For this reason , suitable methods must be found to improve analgesia , particularly in the immediate post-operative phase
Studies were primarily related to the assessment of pain in relation to surgical procedures , and no clear distinction was made concerning the onset of acute and chronic pain .
The metrics used within the tools appeared to focus primarily on the sensory aspect of pain , with no study clearly discriminating between the sensory and affective components of pain .
Objectives The objectives were to review systematic ally the range of assessment tools used in cats to detect the behavioural expression of pain and the evidence of their quality ; and to examine behavioural metrics ( considering both the sensory and affective domains ) used to assess pain .