Chronic Pain Relief Options for Dogs in Vet-Medicine Today

Veterinary medicine is becoming very specialized in chronic pain relief options for dogs. This is partly because of the use of advanced diagnostic techniques and diagnostic imaging (MRI, CT scanning, etc.).

On the other hand you, the dog owner, are today much more sensible and aware of the occurrence of acute and chronic pain and their effect on your dog's behaviour and health condition.

Your dog is a member of the family, a much valued companion who lives beside you within your household 24 hours a day. So, you will be the first to notice a difference in your pet's behaviour, often long before your veterinarian does.

How can you recognize a chronically painful condition in your dog?

At first you might see an altered behaviour pattern, which may develop gradually and at first only noticable if you are an excellent observer.

Usually, though, you would realize that something s wrong if your dog is not eating his meals as usual. He/she can show signs of being lethargic and dull or restless and agitated. The usual urination and passing stool pattern or rituals change and you notice this during daily walks.

A usually gentle dog can growl, turn aggressive or even bite, when in pain. If things become worse, you can hear a dog whining, growling, sometimes barking, screaming or crying. If pain is less severe, your dog can become very quiet, she will not greet with the usual bark or other noise.

You might notice that your dog uses a different, relieving posture: you might see her with a hunched back or sitting or lying in an unusual position, getting up slowly and moving around stiffish or lame.

What Chronic Pain Relief Options Are Available?

Interestingly veterinary medicine can offer very similar chronic pain relief options as there are for humans.

There is a lot that can be done thanks to advanced pain medicines for dogs, surgery and effective coplementary treatments. Pet insurance companies are recognizing and offering cover for more and more alternative therapies and treatment methods.

• Pain medicine for dogs
• TENS
• Trigger Point treatment
• Surgery
• Acupucnture
• Relaxation through Acupressure anad Massage
• Physical Therapy

Pain medications are the first step in treatment to avoid further deterioation. They are convenient and can be given immediately. Actually they should be given combined with other chronic pain relief options to your pet.

There is a good variety of painkiller drugs licensed for dogs ranging from non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAID) to steroidal anti-inflammatories and narcotics.

Depending on the severity of your dog's condition, your veterinarian determines the best and most accurate treament.

It is often a case of trial and error to find the most effective drug or combination of medications tailored to your dog's individual needs. Please, never try to medicate your dog yourself as this could do more harm than good to your dog.

TENS or Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation therapy means basically that a low voltage electrical current delivered by a portable device blocks pain sensation when needed.

This chronic pain relief option is used during physical therapy mostly for muscle pain and trigger point pain and provides short-term pain relief. The device can be hired so you can treat your dog at home as the vet or physiotherapist advises.

Surgery can be successful in specific cases. A growth or tumor removal can help to eliminate the source of chronic pain. Through special neurosurgical intervention it is possible to identify and cut through those "pain nerves" for a constant relief. However, this is applicable only in very special cases.

Alternative and complementary approaches to pain relieving treatment can bring very good results. Especially in combination with initial pain medication they are an effective chronic pain relief option.

Acupuncture for dogs is more and more respected and offered by veterinarians. The results of this treatment show that it is worth to give it a go.

Acupressure and massage are treatments that have a positive effect in a lot of cases and once you have been introduced by your veterinarian or physiotherapist to the right technique and how to apply it on your dog, you can do this at home. Your pet will benefit a lot from it, when done properly.

Physiotherapy and hydrotherapy are very effective and do improve especially the range of movement of joints, help to relieve pain resulting from over- or underused muscles, tendons and connective tissue. It does effectively correct posture problems.

How does chronic pain occur?

Researchers understand exactly how the sensation of pain works and how nerves, spinal cord and brain are connected with different nerval fibres and the chemical messenger part, the so called neurotransmitters.

There is an effect known as central sensitization of the nervous system. This happens when pain signals are sent from a source of pain somewhere in the body to the brain repeatedly, so that the affected area within the brain becomes more and more sensitive.

If this source of pain is for example an injury that is left without effective treatment, it turns to a constantly hurting area.