Animal pain management: where have we been and where are we going?

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Animal pain management is the topic of this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast. Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, is joined by IVAPM experts Jennifer Johnson, VMD, CVPP, and Charles E. Short, DVM, MS, PhD, Dr.h.c., DACVAA, DECVAA.

Below is a partial transcript. Listen to the full podcast for more.

Charles E. Short, DVM, MS, PhD, Dr.h.c., DACVAA, DECVAA: We recognize in our profession that animals have pain, too. It was recognized by our medical colleagues. And of course, personally, when we would have injuries or when we would have disease processes, that we suffer from pain. But we began also to have animal owners recognizing that in their animals, and as a profession, we wanted to take care of it. And one of the problems that we had and one of the reasons for the late start in the IVAPM, compared to some of the other disciplines, was we needed to have the medications necessary to treat and manage pain.

It was one thing to recognize that animals "hurt" too, but what do you do about it if you don't have to drugs to treat it? Are they protocols are treated? So, we had to do a lot of development of medications, and then we had to educate people on how to use them.