Anesthesia and Analgesia for the Critical Patient

Pain is present with many diseases as well as in association with surgical and traumatic conditions. The demonstration of pain is not always obvious; therefore, an animal should be assumed to be experiencing pain in any condition expected to produce pain in humans. The assessment and control of pain is an art as well as a science. Clinicians should keep in mind that the art of pain management is a continual learning experience requiring assessment and therapeutic adjustment for individual animals even when they are undergoing similar surgical procedures. Therefore, standard or ruleof-thumb analgesic and anesthetic protocols are not always appropriate. If we accept that animals can experience pain, then how do we determine if a ferret or rabbit is or is not painful? It is likely that the tolerance of pain by ferrets and rabbits varies greatly between individuals, as it does in other species. This coupled with ferrets’ innate ability to mask significant disease, and probably pain, make it difficult to assess pain. Compared with dogs and cats, very few investigations have been carried out on the assessment and alleviation of pain in ferrets and rabbits. Most likely, as in cats, the mainstay of pain assessment in ferrets, rabbits, and birds appears to be behavioral. There are certain behaviors that are commonly seen in ferrets and rabbits suffering acute trauma or postoperative pain. Such ferrets and rabbits are often depressed, immobile, silent, and appear and distanced from their environment. They do not respond normally to petting or attention; ferrets and rabbits tend to hide when experiencing pain. They may also hyperventilate. In the my clinic, I have found that ferrets and rabbits have a very similar response to pain as is seen in cats.