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EmailIphone Application    Posted: 16th November 2017
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Understanding chronic pain
Eighty per cent of dogs over eight years of age are in pain with arthritis.
Treatment of chronic pain ‘is still an issue’

Chronic pain - what is it? This was the question asked by veterinary surgeon Louise Clark during her lecture at the London Vet Show today (16 November).

Although we are much better now at treating acute pain, which is the body's protective mechanism for staying alive, the treatment of chronic pain (pain that continues when it should not) is still an issue.

Chronic pain is all about how it makes you feel and the emotional response that is produced and the veterinary surgeon needs to look at the behavioural expression of pain in the animal. In people, chronic pain is associated with anxiety, depression and sleep disorders and it is now thought that dogs also express such pain in a similar way.

Chronic pain can be subdivided into three main categories:
  • Neuropathic such as amputations and nerve injuries
  • Nociceptive or inflammatory such as chronic inflammation and osteoarthritis
  • Generalised mixed pain

Louise pointed out that if we can understand where the pain is coming from and the physiology of the pain, then it will be easier to determine its treatment.

She explained that the most important organ involved in chronic pain is the brain. Pain changes the function and structure on the central nervous system (CNS), so pain is very much in the brain. It is amplified through the CNS and translated into an emotional output.

MRI has identified how physical pain can be highlighted in the brain in the limbic system - it is the limbic system that expresses lack of motivation due to pain.

So when treating chronic pain it is vital to recognise the way the brain is exhibiting the emotional effects of the pain it is detecting.

At the end of her lecture, Louise showed a short video which highlighted how our pets cannot show us or tell us about their pain. She then pointed out that 80 per cent of dogs over eight years of age are in pain with arthritis.

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Birmingham Dogs Home makes urgent appeal

News Story 1
 Birmingham Dogs Home has issued an urgent winter appeal as it faces more challenges over the Christmas period.

The rescue centre has seen a dramatic increase in dogs coming into its care, and is currently caring for over 200 dogs. With rising costs and dropping temperatures, the charity is calling for urgent support.

It costs the charity £6,000 per day to continue its work.

Fi Harrison, head of fundraising and communications, said: "It's heart-breaking for our team to see the conditions some dogs arrive in. We really are their last chance and hope of survival."

More information about the appeal can be found here. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
Avian flu confirmed at premises in Cornwall

A case of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has been detected in commercial poultry at a premises near Rosudgeon, Cornwall.

All poultry on the infected site will be humanely culled, and a 3km protection zone and 10km surveillance zone have been put in place. Poultry and other captive birds in the 3km protection zone must be housed.

The case is the second avian flu case confirmed in commercial poultry this month. The H5N5 strain was detected in a premises near Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, in early November. Before then, the disease had not been confirmed in captive birds in England since February.

The UK chief veterinary officer has urged bird keepers to remain alert and practise robust biosecurity.

A map of the disease control zones can be found here.