Does Pigs know pain? – Recognition, evaluation and treatment of pain in pigs
Lydia Kuhnert and Elisabeth grosse Beilage
This presentation will provide an overview about pain recognition, evaluation, the mechanism of action of different analgesics and their effect on common diseases.
Untreated pain in pigs causes suffering, distress and welfare concerns. The recognition, evaluation and treatment of pain in pigs, especially from spontaneously occurring diseases and injuries, is often disregarded compared with other farm animals. In contrast, pain associated with procedures such as castration or tail docking has been more extensively studied, probably because it is directly induced by human intervention. Veterinarians are responsible to alleviate pain in pigs, so identifying and grading pain in spontaneously occurring diseases and injuries needs to become an inevitable part of the clinical examination in pigs.
In the EU, NSAIDs such as salicylates, flunixin, meloxicam, ketoprofen and tolfenamic acid are approved for pain management in pigs. In addition, NSAID-like drugs acetaminophen and metamizole are available, but no strong opioids are approved. For PPDS (postpartum dysgalactia syndrome), flunixin, meloxicam, ketoprofen and tolfenamic acid have effective anti-inflammatory properties. Less information is available on treatment of musculoskeletal pain but an analgesic effect of meloxicam, flunixin, and ketoprofen is reported. Antipyretic effects can only be achieved if a drug overcome the blood-brain-barrier. While Meloxicam only has peripheral effects, acetaminophen, salicylates, ketoprofen, flunixin and metamizole have antipyretic effects. However, tolfenamic acid and flunixin is less effective on fever in some respiratory infections.
Veterinarians need to be aware of Article 106 of EU Regulation 2019/6 regarding the use of veterinary medicinal products in accordance with the marketing authorization.
