Treating Pain in Dogs and Cats

Many of the pets I see are in pain. Some have cancer; some, arthritis; some, injuries. The best way to help these pets and alleviate their pain is carefully combining small amounts of several different medications. Using smaller amounts of each medication decreases the risk of side effects while providing full pain control.

Dogs and Cats are different than humans in how they show pain
With pets, genetic programming has ensured the dogs and cats that survived where those that did not show pain or distress. Over the millions of years of dog and cat evolution, those that showed pain or injury attracted attention of predators and invited challenge of young who wanted their territory or place in the pack. All dogs & cats feel pain, but those that didn’t show it were the ones that survived and passed on their genes. Thus the pets in our homes have descended with the behavioural programming that disguises pain. They still feel pain; we can measure it with elevated cortisol levels, increased respiration, increased heart rate; they just hide it really well.

If dogs and cats hide their pain, which ones need pain control?
At some time in their life, all dogs and cats need pain meds. Dogs and cats are in pain just as often as humans are. They have headaches. They have knee aches. They have neck pain because we often use collar & leash to control them. They have gut pain from constipation, bladder infections, and fibrous scarring after spay and neuter surgery. They have pain from pancreatitis, gastric ulcers, cancers, and inflammatory bowel disease. Their teeth hurt, their gums are sore, they get TMJ. They have hip dysplasia, cervical spondylomyelopathy (Wobbler disease), patella luxation, ankle arthropathy, even toe arthritis.

Helping dogs and cats with pain
Fortunately, we can ease pain in dogs and cats with
• Acupuncture,
• Adequan,
• Herbs,
• Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM),
• Laser,
• Homeopathic meds,
• Reiki, and
• Conventional medications.


Among the conventional medications we have for pain are Tramadol and Gabapentin. In the next Caring for Pets blog entry we`ll cover these two medications.