This week: Pain
Oh, the pain! Having visited a dentist yesterday for a rather belated dental examination brings me to today's topic of pain. The persistent dull ache in my mouth had slowly worsened and become impossible to ignore. I had to take time off from a busy schedule to go to the dentist. I am sure I don't need to go into details as to how painful severe gingivitis can be, as most people have had some experience of it.
The experience serves as a reminder to us to appreciate the pain that our little furry friends go through, sometimes on a continuous basis. One of the advances of veterinary medicine has been the management of pain in animals.
We have found through scientific methods and observation the adverse affects of pain on our pets. I remember when vets didn't bother with painkillers for routine surgeries such as desexing and teeth scaling. Since then, we have discovered that management of pain throughout the course of surgery and thereafter reduces anaesthetic risks and speeds up post-surgical recovery.
It has always amazed me the tolerance for pain that some animals exhibit. For example, it is very common to find a rabbit with a broken leg, its fractured bones protruding through the skin, happily eating and exhibiting normal behaviour despite its severe disability. It shocks me even more how many owners refuse treatment because of the cost and the apparent pain tolerance these animals are showing. These owners think that since the animal is still eating and drinking, it can't be in that much pain.
How wrong they are. This high pain tolerance is a trait that improves animals' survival chances in the wild. It is common knowledge that despite the ferocity of carnivores like the great cats of the African plains, they will select easy prey rather than confront larger, healthier targets, such as adult wildebeests. This helps the carnivore conserve energy and minimise the chances of injury during the hunt.
So what can a sick or lame animal do to minimise it being singled out of the pack for carnivore food? They keep their pain hidden for as long as possible, until the pain causes an unmanageable disability or is resolved. This strategy may be fine in the wild, but with pets it hinders the owner's ability to detect the problem earlier and initiate timely treatment.