This October 17, like every year, World Pain Day is celebrated, a day that was established after the meeting in Switzerland of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP for its acronym in English), the European Pain Federation (EFIC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The objective of this day is to call for the need to urgently find relief from suffering that people with diseases that cause pain. However, we must remember that pain not only affects people, but also the pets with whom they often live.
Therefore, as occurs in human health, there arise numerous initiatives to try to improve the quality of life of pet animals who suffer from pain or some disease that produces it.
An example of this type of disease is osteoarthritis or osteoarthritisa cause significant painlameness and morbidity in dogs. It is a degenerative diseaseprogressive and multifactorial of the synovial joints, affecting not only the articular cartilage but also other structures within the specific synovial joint.
Given the problem of pain caused by OA in dogs, the animal health sector continues to innovate to achieve advances for adequate management in veterinary clinics. Thus, it must be remembered that, for example, in 2022 the World Association of Small Animal Veterinarians (WSAVA) and the Global Pain Council (CPGfor its acronym in English) updated their Guidelines for the recognition, evaluation and treatment of painwith updated scientific information that reflects the main advances in veterinary pain medicine in the last decade.
THE ANIMAL HEALTH SECTOR, FOCUSED AGAINST PAIN
Aware of the importance of this type of guidelines, and the fact that veterinarians have updated information at their disposal, from Zoetis They recently launched a training initiative for veterinarians in which they explained the role of Nerve Growth Factor (FCN) in the transmission and maintenance of chronic pain in OA.
In this sense, Palma GarciaNational Technical Manager of Zoetis, addressed the critical role of the FCN in the transmission and maintenance of chronic pain in OA and noted that “pain control, from the initial phases of osteoarthritis, helps to delay the progression of the disease and improve the quality of life of animals.”
For its part, in line with training initiatives, from Elanco They organized the symposium in March ‘They change the rules in pain management’within the framework of the Vetmadrid/AMVAC Congress, which had the registration of 120 veterinary professionals from Spain and Portugal.
In relation to the chronic painit was presented ‘COASTeR Spain and Portugal’according to the perspective of specialists. This Local Consensus for the Treatment of Canine Osteoarthritis is an adaptation of the contents of the International Consensus, based on the Spanish and Portuguese clinical reality, the drugs available in Spain and Portugal, and the opinion of a Committee of 12 local experts in anesthesia and pain management, rehabilitation, orthopedics and traumatology, who reviewed and agreed on the contents.
TOOLS AND INITIATIVES TO TREAT PAIN IN PETS AND KNOW IT IN DEPTH
But in addition to these guidelines and training initiatives, more and more efforts are being implemented from the animal health industry to provide veterinarians with effective tools to combat pain in their patients.
It is the case of Daxocox (enflicoxib) Spitof which a scientific study recently pointed out its long-term efficacy and safety for the treatment of pain and inflammation associated with canine osteoarthritis.
“The safety and efficacy profile of enflicoxib is maintained after long-term treatment, which, together with its weekly administration, makes it a good alternative for the chronic treatment of dogs with OA,” the researchers noted in the study.
Likewise, veterinarians have other tools such as complementary food Omnichondro PROrapid of Hifarmax to support dogs’ joints. The combined action of native Type II Collagen with Omega 3 and herbal extracts promotes joint health, helping to improve the mobility of dogs.
And, as Hifarmax points out, joint pain can become a real problem. harming he dog welfare. For this reason, they recommend supporting the joints of pets.
Finally, in addition to training initiatives and tools to combat pain in dogs, companies such as Indiba have opted to deepen the knowledge of pain in pets, given that it has become a growing concern in the field of animal health.
To this end, Indiba conducted a survey that highlights the frequency and severity of pain in pets and proposes strategies to improve their treatment. Among the main findings of the surveys, it stands out that most patients with pain are seen frequentlyeither daily or weekly, although the degree of mobility compromise is not severe in most cases.
Furthermore, from Indiba they stressed that a 63.2% of guardians detect their pets’ mobility problems late or only when they are very obvious. This suggests a lack of information about these injuries and the need for preventive health checkups.
All these initiatives are the result of the existing awareness in the animal health sector with the importance of correct management of pain in pets, as well as the diseases that cause it, guaranteeing the maximum welfare of the animalswhose coexistence with people has multiple benefits widely demonstrated by science.