How to tell if your cat or dog is in pain
Our pets can’t tell us when they are sick or injured. They can’t talk to us, and they often instinctually hide any signs of sickness to protect themselves. The good news is that there are telltale clues that can help you tell if your cat or dog is in pain.
Pain is officially defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain as: “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience …” This broad definition can apply to acute or chronic pain. Acute pain has a specific cause, such as a bruised muscle, that reminds your pet to slow down so they can heal properly. The acute pain stops when healing is complete. Chronic pain, on the other hand, is a disease state that lasts for months or even years. This can be caused by an injury or disease, but
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Once you have a behavioral baseline, you can look for any changes in your pet’s usual demeanor. This could be an obvious change, such as limping or obsessively licking a noticeable cut. It is more often something much smaller.
The minor changes you might notice could be things like a decreased appetite or an increased amount of time spent sleeping. Maybe your dog has stopped running to greet you at the door, or your cat is hiding more often than usual. Perhaps your dog is restless, or your cat is sitting in an unusual position, or they have started whining, whimpering, growling or hissing. Any subtle change in movement, noise, activity level or even posture could be an indication that they’re in pain.
You play a key role in keeping your pet safe. If you start to notice any ongoing behaviors that seem odd for your cat or dog then it is time to call your veterinarian. Noticing and reporting changes in behavior is the first step to finding and fixing a health problem. And, the sooner you locate the cause of your pet’s pain, the sooner they can start to feel
Pain has been defined by Coates & Hindle as an unpleasant emotional and sensory experience which signals a potential or actual damage to tissues (2011, p. 213). Pain is a common human experience and can emanate from injury and illness. There are two main types of pain; acute pain is short-lived, lasting for minutes or several days and its onset often takes place rapidly. It results from the activation of pain nerve endings or nociceptors either by internal or external pain stimuli. On the other hand chronic pain is continuous and sometimes recurrent and can last for weeks, months or even years. Chronic pain is usually not located at or related to the tissue undergoing trauma (Draper & Knight, 2007, p. 104). Various theories have been proposed to explain the mechanism underlying the transmission and perception of pain.
Tilley, Lawrence P., and Francis Jr. W. K. Smith. The 5 Minute Veterinary Consult: Canine and Feline. Third ed. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2004. 372-73. Print.
When owners take their pets to the clinic, they are understandably anxious about the results and outcome of the visit. While it’s the veterinarian's job to provide care for the animal, it’s also their job to put the owners at ease, reassuring them that their pet will indeed be fine. This communication is vital for building trust, as it lets the owner know what is happening to their animal and gives them confidence in believing that everything will be okay. What’s more, veterinarians that take the time to thoroughly explain procedures and instructions regarding petcare, are teaching pet owners how to better tend to their
Wilson, Karen Ann. Analgesics Can Be Pain For Pets. St. Petersburg Times. 16 Oct. 1993.
This is not the case however, because research has been done at the University of Liverpool by Biologist Lynne Sneddon stating that "Animals show reflex responses similar to our own. For example, when we accidentally touch a hot iron, we respond almost immediately by retracting our hand. There is a lag period following this when no adverse sensations are felt but, if left untreated, the burn begins to throb and we alter our behavior to guard the affected area. Animals respond to painful damage in a similar way. Their responses comprise sever behavioral and physiological changes: they eat less food, their normal behavior is disrupted, their social behavior is suppressed, and they may adopt unusual behavior patterns, they may emit characteristic distress calls, and they experience respiratory and cardiovascular changes, as well as inflammation and release of stress hormones." (Sneddon). So not only has the "Animals don't feel pain the way humans do" argument been refuted, but it has been proven that animals do feel similar pain to humans.
If a dog is suffering from medical problems its behavior could change (“Medical Conditions”). If a dog is feeling pain or discomfort in may react with aggressive actions. Such as a dog that is pregnant will act in an aggressive way to protect its young. There are also many diseases that a dog can catch and become violent from. Some diseases include: hypothyroidism, brain tumors, and epilepsy (“Medical Causes”). Dogs that suffer from problems with the brain will most definitely respond aggressively. Or if a dog loses its sight or hearing and if someone were to approach it without caution they would scare or surprise it. A dog's frustration could also lead to aggression. Like all other cases this behavior can be avoided with proper training. A dog can be trained to respond to the sickness in a calm way. It is important to teach a dog what it is dealing with so it can cope with it (“MEDICAL ISSUES”).
You wake up in the hospital, look around, and find a doctor hovering nearby declaring that you have just suffered through a heart attack; affirming that if not for your dog, you would have died. You remember back to earlier that day: sitting on the couch, feeling a little off, hearing your dog barking, sensing him nudging you, going to the phone to call the ambulance, and having your dog by your side until you were safe inside the aluminum walls of the emergency vehicle. Although it sounds abnormal that a dog would be the one to save someone’s life, situations similar to the one above are not uncommon. Dogs and other household pets have been shown to be able to detect medical emergencies, including heart attacks and seizures, in their owners.
Service dogs can help disabled people with many different tasks. Service dogs when in public are often seen wearing a specialized vest or tag identifying the animals as a services dog when they are working. Service dogs are allowed in places that other pets are not allowed to go. Any dog can be a service dog. A dog does not have to be specially trained to be a service dog. There are many different kinds of service dogs. I am not talking about breeds, I am talking about the different jobs that service dogs do.
The veterinarian will need to know all of the symptoms the cat is experiencing and when the symptoms first began. If recent poisoning or trauma occurred, the veterinarian will need to be given details about these incidents. The veterinarian will physically examine the cat, listening to its heart and lungs and taking its blood
As a kid, I fell in love with the idea of getting a puppy for Christmas. Wrapped in a small box with a bow on top sitting under the tree just like the movies and tv shows I had seen. I can remember making a Christmas list of all the things I wanted that year, and every year the same thing that I wanted had said “puppy” with it underlined so that my mother knew which was my favorite on the list. Every year no surprise, I didn’t find a dog. I never understood why I never received one. When the kids at school talked about the few dogs they had at home made me so jealous, but I hoped that one day it would be me to have my own best friend at home.
The dog bites once, leaving punctures deeper than the length of the canine (meaning that the dog bit and then clamped down) or the bite produces slashes in both directions from the puncture (meaning that the dog bit and shook their head).
A dog or cat can be a wonderful addition to any home. They are both very sweet and loveable pet to have. But these two pets could not be more different from each other in a few respect: the amount of attention that is needed, grooming care, and bathroom usage.
Effects of pet therapy are seen in the patient 's attitude and mentality, the road to recovery is a little bit easier. The patient can have a more clear mind going into the rest of his/her procedures or treatments into getting better. The best thing about pet therapy is that it helps with almost any mental or physical illness. Although it may not fully cure the illness, the process can still a play a huge part in how the main treatment effects the patient. This just goes to show all the causes and effects of pet therapy. It all starts with patients who need a boost to help get them through whatever process it takes to make them better. Once patients accept to take the therapy all they needs is “10 or 15 minutes” (staff ) a day and one can see significant changes in the patient 's attitude. This change in attitude is a huge turn in the right direction when going through a treatment process. It truly is amazing how all it takes is a little time with an animal to give one the ability to find the will to fight and live another
Often we have conversations with our pets throughout the day. For a non-pet lover, our conversations can seem, well odd. Have you ever wondered if our pets really understand us? It turns out they do.
Animal’s bites can come from not only dogs but from wild animals also like rabbits, squirrels and skunks. When you are treating these type of bites you want to consider how minor or major the bite is. How to classify a bite as a minor bite you want to look at the bite and determine if the bite barley breaks the skin. (Noseworthy, 1998-2014 ). If you don’t have any sign of rabies it is consider a minor bite. The way you would want to treat a minor animal bite is to wash the biting area thoroughly with soap and water. You also want to apply an antibiotic cream to prevent any infection and cover the bite with a clean bandage. (Noseworthy, 1998-2014 )