Analgesia for Cats: Can we do better?

Successful pain management requires Anticipation, Assessment, and Alleviation of pain (the 3 “A’s”).

We will explore the pain tools currently available for acute pain assessment in cats, including factors that can confound their use including fear, stress and anesthetic drugs. Appropriate preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative administration of analgesic agents is required to provide comfort during the recovery period and to prevent persistent postoperative pain. Timing and duration of treatment will vary with the type of surgery. Examples of a multimodal approach using opioids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, and local anesthetics will be used to emphasize the different mechanisms of pain that are at play in our patients. 

After participating in this webinar, attendees will better understand how to:

• Outline the mechanisms of acute pain
• Demonstrate the use and value of feline pain scoring tools
• Discuss the pros and cons of currently available analgesic drugs for cats
• Describe practical analgesic and anesthetic protocols for a variety of diagnostic and surgical procedures

Speaker Bio

Sheilah Robertson, BVMS (Hons), PhD, DACVAA, DECVAA, DACAW, DECAWBM (WSEL), MRCVS

Dr. Robertson received her veterinary training at the University of Glasgow followed by specialized training in anesthesia and a PhD at the University of Bristol. She is board certified in anesthesia and animal welfare by the respective American and European Colleges and is trained in small animal acupuncture. Her research interests include assessment of pain and use of opioids in cats and the development of anesthetic protocols for pediatric patients and large scale spay and neuter clinics. She was a faculty member at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Florida and served an assistant director in the Animal Welfare Division of the American Veterinary Medical Association. She is currently on faculty at Michigan State University. 

RACE Credits 

This program 249-33652 is approved by the AAVSB RACE to offer a total of 1.00 CE Credits (1.00 max) being available to any one veterinarian: and/or 1.00 Veterinary Technician CE Credits (1.00 max). This RACE approval is for the subject matter categorie(s) of: Scientific using the delivery method(s) of: Interactive-Distance. This approval is valid in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE; however, participants are responsible for ascertaining each board's CE requirements.

Disclosure Statement

This webinar is sponsored by Zoetis. Speakers are expected to disclose conflict of interests whenever a conflict arises relating to the topics of this educational webinar.

Dr. Robertson has acted as a key opinion leader and speaker for Abbott Animal Health and Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health), Novartis Animal Health (now Elanco), Elanco, and Aratana therapeutics.