Dog Perioperative Pain Management Advances

Advances in perioperative pain management have transformed surgical welfare for dogs, with multimodal protocols significantly improving the pain experience around surgical procedures.

Key Facts

Pre-emptive analgesia given before pain stimulus reduces subsequent pain intensity and duration
Multimodal analgesia combining NSAIDs, opioids, local anaesthesia, and adjuncts provides superior pain control
Locoregional anaesthetic techniques reduce general anaesthetic requirements and improve post-operative comfort
Pain assessment tools including the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale guide intraoperative and post-operative analgesia
Constant-rate infusion of analgesic drugs maintains steady plasma levels avoiding peaks and troughs

Welfare Considerations

Perioperative pain is among the most predictable and manageable welfare challenges in veterinary medicine. With appropriate multimodal protocols, surgical pain can be substantially reduced from pre-operative through to home recovery. The welfare obligation to minimise surgical pain is clear; the tools to achieve it are available. Practices choosing not to use pre-emptive analgesia, locoregional blocks, or multimodal protocols based on cost considerations are making a welfare choice with direct implications for surgical patient welfare.

What You Can Do

Ask your vet about multimodal perioperative pain management before any surgical procedure
Ensure your dog has adequate pain assessment and analgesia during recovery
Learn about pain management advances to be an informed advocate for your dog's surgical welfare
Choose veterinary practices that explicitly describe multimodal pain management as standard protocol