Abstract Clinical Update in Feline Analgesia

Even to date, compared to their canine counterparts, feline patients do in general not receive comparable analgesic treatment (either with regards to duration or intensity). Several causes can be identified, divided over the three key components of adequate pain management. these components are:

1. attitude of veterinarians toward analgesia and analgesic administration
2. pain assessment
3. pain management, which comprises patient/owner compliance, adequacy of pain control and (proactive) management of side-effects

in this 45 minute presentations, the benefits of multimodal analgesia in general, and specific issues and challenges of the three components of feline pain management will be briefly discussed. practical suggestions for improving feline analgesia in all three areas, but with an emphasis on management of the common types of pain in feline patients encountered in private practice will be presented.

the analgesic components and formulations available to the veterinarian and manage- ment of side-effects associated with both inadequately controlled pain and analgesic administration will be reviewed.