ELIMINATE THE HURDLES: IDENTIFYING AND TREATING CHRONIC PAIN IN CATS DR. TAMARA GRUBB, DVM, PHD, DACVAA
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3 EDUCATE CAT OWNERS ON THE MANIFESTATIONS OF OA/DJD PAIN IN CATS Owners are the biggest hurdle to achieving pain relief in cats. Cat pain isn’t treated if the owner doesn’t identify the pain and present the cat to a veterinarian, but the manifestations of chronic pain are largely unrecognized by cat owners. How many times have we asked, ‘is your cat in pain?’ and been told ‘well he isn’t crying or limping, so he must not be in pain’? Owners need to be educated that mobility and behavior changes (as listed above), not crying or limping, are more predictable indicators of pain in cats. But to educate owners, we have to reach them, and we need to use every avenue possible to do that. Here are some open-access tools: Owners want medical information regarding their pets – just look at how often they bring in a pile of printed pages from a Google search! Instead of feeling frustrated, we can take the opportunity to drive the owners to valid, useful websites with accurate information on chronic pain in cats. Once useful websites are identified, downloadable material from them, and links to them, should be shared EVERYWHERE our clients might find them – on the clinic website, Facebook page, twitter feed, blog, in-clinic signage, on-hold messaging - and anywhere else the pet owner might frequent. Useful websites include http://felineoaexam.com/ where a checklist (checklists rule!) of pain- related behaviors and animations of
pain-related mobility can be accessed directly by the cat owner. The owner can enter information in an interactive checklist that can be emailed directly to the clinic for review prior to the cat’s appointment. The checklists are also downloadable and printable and can be provided for clients to fill out at the clinic. The mobility animations are downloadable and are a great addition to the clinic website or Facebook page! The checklists and animations are also excellent tools for training the clinic team to identify chronic pain in cats. The website https://painfreecats.org/ also has a plethora of practical information for cat owners and veterinarians – and another interactive checklist. Printable posters and social media resources with easily identifiable cat pain illustrations are available through the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management at http://ivapm. org/animal-pain-awareness-month. 4 INCORPORATE PAIN EXAMS INTO YOUR SCHEDULE We all know the constraint of a tight schedule and the almost impossibility of squeezing extra ‘tests’ into a 15-minute appointment. By providing resources for at-home pain identification, owners are more likely to schedule pain-specific exams. Once in the clinic, the veterinarian can use the checklist information to ask pain-specific behavior and mobility questions. Since cats are unlikely to exhibit pain-related behaviors and mobility changes in the veterinary
clinic, supplement the physical exam information by asking the owner to video their cat at home. Use the mobility animations to guide them through filming diagnostic mobility and behavior scenarios. 5 BRUSH UP ON CAT PAIN DIAGNOSTIC SKILLS If cats are hiding pain at home, you can be assured that they are completely catatonic (!) about pain in the veterinary clinic. Do a cat focused pain exam as meticulously demonstrated in the professional videos at http://felineoaexam.com/. (continued)
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