It’s ortho week here at the clinic! Once a month, we have Dr. Joel Teachout come in from South Dakota to set fractures, perform TPLO (tibial plateau-leveling osteotomy) and FHO (femoral head osteotomy) surgeries, and do consulting to help keep your pet’s skeleton happy and healthy. These surgeries are actually fairly common here in veterinary medicine, and at our clinic, we average around 12 TPLO/FHO surgeries a month. That’s a lot of surgeries in one week! Our candidates typically come to see us for a consult when they’re limping, which is a pretty good indicator that they’re in pain, right? But what are other pain indicators we see in our pets that let us know when to see the vet?
Masters of Charades
One of the things I hear most from people when I tell them I’m going to school to be a vet is “Animals are so tricky; they can’t tell you what hurts!” This is a very true statement; they can’t verbally tell us what’s wrong. However, they do give us some clues based on body language. These clues can range anywhere from blatantly obvious to having to take out your theoretical magnifying glass and become a detective. Luckily, we can give you a list of clues to look for to help piece your story together.
Changes in Demeanor
When we humans get sick or don’t feel good, we tend to stay in our pajamas, put on sweatpants, maybe not brush our hair, or put on makeup and accessories. We tend to look like how we feel. Our pets will do the same thing, but they don’t have the luxury of putting on comfy sweatpants. Instead, cats and dogs will put on different facial expressions. These expressions can include flattened or drooped ears, enlarged pupils in well-lit rooms, panting while at rest, glazed eyes/staring into space often, and even grimacing or scrunching of the face while resting or doing everyday tasks like walking. If pain is bad enough, dogs and cats might also turn to aggression when trying to protect a painful area. Trying to nip, swat, or growl when you move a hand toward them might indicate pain if the animal is typically calm when petting that area.
Protecting the Vulnerable
Remember when you played a sport as a kid, and you got hit by the ball or maybe twisted your ankle falling, and one of your parents would yell from the stands, “Rub some dirt on it and don’t think about it!”? Well, that never really worked, did it, because no matter what, you still felt your ailment. We try to rub the area to ease or disperse the pain, limp on our twisted ankle to not put full pressure on it, and try not to think of the bruise that’s probably already starting to form. Like us, our beloved pets will do the same things when hurt. You might notice your dog limping after chasing something in the yard or your cat hiding to avoid being picked up when they’re usually a cuddle bug. Posture is another thing to consider when analyzing your pet, like a hunched back, raised hind end, and repeated stretching, trying to get comfortable. Other pain indicators can be excessive scratching, licking, or biting at a specific area to the point of hair loss, lesions left from teeth, and the skin turning bright red due to continued stimulation.
Habit Tracker
A lot of things get pushed to the side when we’re sick, like washing dishes, cleaning rooms, and cooking a nutritious dinner. And, you guessed it, your pets do the same thing. Causes of concern are skipping meals, passing up treats, hardly touching a water bowl, and sleeping more than usual. In the previous section, we discussed excessive grooming, but a lack of grooming is also a sign to consider. Despite some popular belief, animals enjoy feeling clean and polished, but grooming gets pushed to the side when something bothers them. Behavioral changes such as frequent urination or urinating outside of the litter box, being restless, whining, whimpering, or having increased vocalization, and ignoring trained cues can also be signs of pain. These can be due to your pet having a urinary tract infection, being too painful to go outside or to the litterbox, or can’t find the right position to lie down in.
So Now What?
Pretend over a couple of days, you’ve noticed Fluffy has had some of these signs of pain; now what? Start by analyzing the situation; the more information you have to tell your vet, the better. What is Fluffy doing differently that has alerted you? Were there any changes to diet, exercise, or stress recently? If it’s an injury, what are some possibilities that could have caused it? You are always welcome to write things down and bring a piece of paper in with you, especially if you're not the one bringing your pet in. Every little clue to the mystery helps us, and we will do our very best to get Fluffy back to health!
One Last Thing…
It’s important to remember that all animals are different and will show pain differently. If you pay attention to your dog or cat’s normal behaviors, it’s much easier to spot when something is wrong. We also advise you not to wait too long to bring your pet in because a small injury can go from bad to worse quickly, depending on what it is. We hope you enjoyed and learned something from the first installment of our newsletters. In the meantime, give your dogs and cats a hug from us and enjoy the beautiful summer!
Beth and your friends at Summer Street Animal Clinic
Helpful websites:
https://www.ahttps://www.aaha.org/wp-content/uploads/globalassets/02-guidelines/pain-management/painmanagement_dogs_web.pdf aha.org/wp-content/uploads/globalassets/02-guidelines/pain-management/painmanagement_dogs_web.pdf
https://www.aaha.org/wp-content/uploads/globalassets/02-guidelines/pain-management/painmanagement_cats_web.pdf
Meet the Author, Beth:
Beth has been seasonally employed with Summer Street for a few years, first starting as a Kennel Assistant while in high school and then as an intern prior to starting vet school. Most recently, Beth has been accepted into the College of Veteriary Medicine at Iowa State and will begin her next chapter there in the fall of 2024. During her busy, busy time at school, she will continue to put together these informational newsletters to help us better educate our clients on many different and important veterinary topics.