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The quantity & quality of your dog's sleep can make or break your pain management plan.
Poor quality or a lack of sleep causes… • Pain neurons to fire more readily, leading to increase sensitivity. • Negative emotional states & increase in perceiving stimuli as aversive. • Increases appetite, leading to weight gain & eating foreign objects. • Decrease in serotonin - the primary feel good brain chemical. • Vulnerability to pain further decreases sleep quality & quantity. Promoting healthy sleep hygiene for our dogs is an affordable & accessible way to improve pain management. • Offer opportunities to sleep near you - dogs are social sleepers. • Since joint disease is the leading cause of chronic pain for dogs, a sleeping space that is physically accessible is essential: > A firm, flat mat or raised bed is ideal. > Edges, blankets, and soft surfaces can make moving painful & potentially dangerous. > They need to be able to lay flat out to get proper sleep. > Continue to offer a softer or blanket filled bed so they can choose what need they want to fulfill. • Use an activity tracker, because it's unrealistic to monitor their sleep manually. > Dogs sleep mostly when we're not home or sleeping ourselves. > Resting while awake is species typical behavior & can be difficult to discern from sleeping. > It collects & organizes data - an important, but boring task. > Basic trackers have become more affordable. "Klarissa, my dog sleeps fine!" How do you know? Sleep is as necessary for life as breathing. Your dog's body will force them to sleep to survive. This does not mean they are getting health promoting & pain reducing sleep. Batson, A., & Capon, H. (2021a, April 22). Cam live: Sleep quality and chronic pain part 1 with Amber Batson. Facebook. https://fb.watch/n2UEPD1SWE/ Batson, A., & Capon, H. (2021, May 5). Cam live: Sleep quality and chronic pain part 2 with Amber Batson. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2DTNOggwSA Canine Arthritis Management. (2017, July 18). In silence by canine arthritis management. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5_FeWt4T_I https://caninearthritis.co.uk/managing-arthritis/what-can-be-done/ Kinsman, R., Owczarczak-Garstecka, S., Casey, R., Knowles, T., Tasker, S., Woodward, J., Da Costa, R., et al. (2020). Sleep Duration and Behaviours: A Descriptive Analysis of a Cohort of Dogs up to 12 Months of Age. Animals, 10(7), 1172. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10071172 Lautenbacher, S., Kundermann, B., & Krieg, J. C. (2006). Sleep deprivation and pain perception. Sleep medicine reviews, 10(5), 357-369. Weir, M., Williams , K., & Downing, R. (n.d.). Helping your dog with osteoarthritis: VCA Canada Animal Hospitals. VCA Canada. https://vcacanada.com/know-your-pet/helping-your-dog-with-osteoarthritis.
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As far as I am concerned, ACE Free Work (created by Sarah Fisher) is an essential skill for all dog professionals & guardians. It is impressively multi-faceted.
On the surface it is a very thorough, accessible, and affordable way to meet any dog's needs. • Can be made entirely from things you have already & tailored to suit literally any dog. • Fantastic for dogs in pain and/or "reactive". • Pair with conversational training to craft choice-based training sessions. However, Free Work is way more than that. Free work can address behavior concerns. • Engages the SEEKING system, leading to dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter. • Nose work improves optimism. • Provides opportunity to exercise control, which improves confidence. Most relevant, Free Work can be used to identify signs of pain & discomfort and improve musculoskeletal health with appropriate exercise. • What activities does your dog choose? In what order? • How do they engage with different activities? What does their posture look like when standing or laying down with each activity? • Looking for abnormalities or changes in gait, posture, capabilities, coat changes, and preferences. • Promoting positive emotions, empowerment and movement help improve pain. Broad Strokes How-To: 1) Prepare a few enrichment activities for your dog. Use different foods (eg: texture, flavor, consistency). 2) Include non-food enrichment, especially for reactive or painful dogs who can’t go for walks or play dates anymore. 3) Arrange these activities at different heights (eg: floor, big book, small box). 4) Place different surfaces (eg: yoga mat, faux grass, bubble wrap). 5) Offer water in the free work space. 6) Remove your dog's collar & harness (as much as safely possible). 7) Let 'em go AND OBSERVE! There are numerous barriers to diagnosing and treating pain in dogs, but they all have the same throughline:
Humans like neat & tidy boxes. We like clear cut binaries. We like simple, and chronic pain is anything but simple. One of these boxes is how we expect dogs in chronic pain to present. • Guardians and professionals alike demand dog's present with significant decreases in quality of life before investigating pain. • Despite stress-induced analgesia being well-documented, dogs who still play fetch or present as "fine" in clinic are overlooked. • We associate pain with the inevitability of aging and dismiss it as "slowing down." The second box is the clear cut binaries people want out of diagnostics. • "These aren't signs of pain, these are behavior problems. You need to train your dog better." Real words vets have said to my clients. • Confirming the presence of pain is not the same as diagnosing the primary condition. Clean x-Rays and other physical tests do not rule out if the dog is in pain or determine severity of pain. • Frameworks for assessing dog pain, such as the Helsinki Index, ARE behavior assessments. Pain medication trial is the tool to confirm whether a dog is in pain. Finally, we have our rigid ideas about how pain should be treated. • Veterinary medicine focuses on prevention in many ways (eg: vaccines, spay/neuter, anti-parasitic), osteoarthritis is not one of them. • WSAVA recommends pain being treated as the 4th vital sign, investigated with the same regularity and consistent tool as heart rate, temperature or respiration. However, most people have never received a formal means of measuring their dogs pain. • Pain medication is important, but it is not the end-all, be-all. Pain management must include strategies that not only reduce pain, but prevent further harm and improve other aspects of welfare. Check out Divergent Dog Behavior's Behavior & Wellness Consultations to see how I can help you overcome some of these hurdles. Belshaw, Z., Dean, R., & Asher, L. (2020). Could it be osteoarthritis? How dog owners and veterinary surgeons describe identifying canine osteoarthritis in a general practice setting. Preventive veterinary medicine, 185, 105198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2020.105198 Belshaw, Z., Asher, L., & Dean, R. S. (2016). The attitudes of owners and veterinary professionals in the United Kingdom to the risk of adverse events associated with using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to treat dogs with osteoarthritis. Preventive veterinary medicine, 131, 121–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2016.07.017 Budsberg, S. C., Torres, B. T., Kleine, S. A., Sandberg, G. S., & Berjeski, A. K. (2018). Lack of effectiveness of tramadol hydrochloride for the treatment of pain and joint dysfunction in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 252(4), 427-432. Retrieved Sep 18, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.252.4.427 Canine Arthritis Management Advocate Program Dycus, D., & Capon, H. (2020, April 28). Cam live: Identifying arthritis earlier and taking a preventative approach. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFOyqCFyDlw Mannion, P., & Capon, H. (2020, May 15). Cam live: The role of imaging in canine arthritis management. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx5P8pb5UVg Mills DS, et al Pain and Problem Behavior in Cats and Dogs. Animals. 2020; 10(2):318. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020318 Mills , D. (2021). Pain & Problem Behaviors . Lemonade Conference . Monteiro, B. P., Lascelles, B. D., Murrell, J., Robertson, S., Steagall, P. V., & Wright, B. (2022). 2022 WSAVA guidelines for the recognition, assessment and treatment of pain. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 64(4), 177–254. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsap.13566 Roberts, C., Armson, B., Bartram, D., Belshaw, Z., Capon, H., Cherry, G., Gonzalez Villeta, L., McIntyre, S. L., Odeyemi, I., & Cook, A. (2021). Construction of a Conceptual Framework for Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life in Dogs With Osteoarthritis. Frontier. St.Clair, J. The pain trial concept for dogs: What is it and why is it important The acceptance of non-human animals experiencing pain as a fact is a relatively recent milestone in veterinary medicine (est September 2002).
In the past 21 years, we've made significant leaps in our understanding of pain, yet there remains an enormous disparity between the presence of pain and our ability to identify and manage it effectively. Ensuring our furry friends are free from pain is at the heart of animal welfare, but it's surprisingly challenging to attain. Throughout September, join me on an exploration into: • The fundamentals of pain science • Barriers to recognizing and treating pain in your dog. • Identifying pain in your furry companion. • The interaction between pain the brain and behavior. • Busting common pain myths like "If It Hurt, They Wouldn't Do It" and "My Pup's Too Young for Pain". • Valuable Tips for preventing and managing pain through environmental and lifestyle changes. My goal for you at the end of this series is to feel empowered as an advocate for your four-legged companion, and filled with hope for their future. The discovery of your dog's pain can be heart-wrenching, but it's rarely the end of your adventures together. Belshaw, Z., Dean, R., & Asher, L. (2020). Could it be osteoarthritis? How dog owners and veterinary surgeons describe identifying canine osteoarthritis in a general practice setting. Preventive veterinary medicine, 185, 105198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2020.105198 Belshaw, Z., Asher, L., & Dean, R. S. (2016). The attitudes of owners and veterinary professionals in the United Kingdom to the risk of adverse events associated with using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to treat dogs with osteoarthritis. Preventive veterinary medicine, 131, 121–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2016.07.017 Budsberg, S. C., Torres, B. T., Kleine, S. A., Sandberg, G. S., & Berjeski, A. K. (2018). Lack of effectiveness of tramadol hydrochloride for the treatment of pain and joint dysfunction in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 252(4), 427-432. Retrieved Sep 18, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.252.4.427 Canine Arthritis Management Advocate Program Dycus, D., & Capon, H. (2020, April 28). Cam live: Identifying arthritis earlier and taking a preventative approach. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFOyqCFyDlw Mannion, P., & Capon, H. (2020, May 15). Cam live: The role of imaging in canine arthritis management. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx5P8pb5UVg Mills DS, et al Pain and Problem Behavior in Cats and Dogs. Animals. 2020; 10(2):318. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020318 Mills , D. (2021). Pain & Problem Behaviors . Lemonade Conference . Monteiro, B. P., Lascelles, B. D., Murrell, J., Robertson, S., Steagall, P. V., & Wright, B. (2022). 2022 WSAVA guidelines for the recognition, assessment and treatment of pain. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 64(4), 177–254. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsap.13566 Roberts, C., Armson, B., Bartram, D., Belshaw, Z., Capon, H., Cherry, G., Gonzalez Villeta, L., McIntyre, S. L., Odeyemi, I., & Cook, A. (2021). Construction of a Conceptual Framework for Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life in Dogs With Osteoarthritis. Frontier. St.Clair, J. The pain trial concept for dogs: What is it and why is it important |
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