Veterinary

Pain Management in Animals: Veterinary and Farm Contexts

Adequate pain management for animals in veterinary and farm contexts is inconsistently provided, leaving many animals in preventable suffering.

Key Facts

Castration of piglets without anesthesia is legal and routine in most of the world
The EU will ban non-anesthetic piglet castration by 2025 following industry agreement
Post-surgical pain management for pets is inconsistently provided depending on practitioner
Tail docking, dehorning, and mulesing routinely occur without adequate analgesia
Veterinary schools now teach pain recognition and management as core competencies

Welfare Considerations

Pain recognition in animals differs from humans in that animals evolved to hide weakness from predators, making pain assessment challenging. This has historically been used to justify insufficient pain management. Modern tools for pain assessment including grimace scales for multiple species allow objective measurement. The gap between available pain management options and what is routinely provided in farm contexts remains large and unacceptable.

What You Can Do

Ask your veterinarian about post-operative pain management protocols for your pet
Advocate for mandatory anesthesia requirements for farm animal procedures
Support animal pain research and grimace scale development for more species
Donate to the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management
Choose farm products from producers who commit to pain-free husbandry practices