What is Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is defined by length of time, pain that lasts longer than 6 months.  This type of pain can persist even after the illness or injury have healed or gone away. If pain is left unmanaged, pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months, years.  This is also known as wind up pain, for example if you go to stroke your pet; the nervous system will signal pain, even if they are not painful in that area, the nervous system has put them in a constant state of anticipating pain even with your touch.  This can be very difficult for veterinarians to manage as even our pain reliever products may not have an effect to eliminate pain once it has progressed to wind up pain. 
Best way to manage Chronic pain is to Diagnosis Early.  Seeing your vet on a regular basis will help diagnosis any pain early in your pets life.  We can see pain start even in young animals especially those with predisposed conditions like Hip or Elbow dysplasia 

Predisposed Conditions 

  • Osteoarthritis - predisposed pets with any skeletal issues like dysplasia, fractures, trauma
  • Dental disease
  • Aural (Ear) disease
  • Spinal disease
  • Skin conditions
  • Neoplasia abnormal growth of tissue 
If your pet is diagnosed with any of the above conditions, our team knows that we monitor pain with every routine visit.  The goal is to make sure we identify pain quickly and determine when Chronic pain is starting to set in. We want to prevent Wind up Pain, because once pain signals stay active in the nervous system we know it is more difficult to completely eliminate your pets pain.
Our goal is do our best to keep our patients pain free to enjoy a good quality of life and have that amazing animal human bond for as long as possible.

Signs of Chronic Pain

  •  Limping
  • less willingness of jumping up or down
  • does not want to climb up or down stairs 
  • seems less active "slowing down"
  • Seems stiff especially after exercise
  • slower getting up from sleeping position
Cat Chronic Pain Signs
Cats are different in how they show pain. Survival instincts are strong,  reluctance to show vulnerability.
  • Hiding - Survival instinct
  • Decreased grooming
  • difficulty jumping - if they don't sleep in their favorite spot might be because they cannot jump up anymore
  • Changes in litter box habits 
  • Reluctance to be touched
  • decrease interest in food
  • Squinty eyes, head down, whiskers up - Grimace scale

How to Manage Chronic Pain

The best way to manage Chronic pain is EARLY Diagnosis.   Routine visits with the vet, especially if your pet has a predisposed condition then we can evaluate the level of pain annually. Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of Chronic Pain.  There are a variety of ways vets can evaluate pain such as pain score evaluated by the owner and accessed by the vet.  LOAD Owner Questionnaire, COAST Osteoarthritis staging tool for Vets.  Depending on the stage of pain for Osteoarthritis the vet could recommend anything from joint supplements, exercise program to prescription drugs. 
For more information on OA in dogs or OA in Cats 
If your pet is experience Chronic pain from something other than OA (osteoarthritis) a treatment plan would be recommended by our veterinarians.  If you are concerned your pet is in pain please contact us so we can discuss the best options for your pet.