Pain assessment in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy by midline or lateral celiotomy through use of a previously validated multidimensional composite pain scale

Abstract

PURPOSE: To assess pain in the immediate postoperative period in cats submitted into two different celiotomy techniques for ovariohysterectomy. METHODS: Fourteen healthy female cats up to three years old with a mean weight 2.75 kg, without breed specification, were used in this double blind experiment. The animals were randomly assigned to two treatments: I- ovariohysterectomy by lateral approach (LA) or II - by midline approach (MA). The anesthesia consisted of acepromazine (0.1 mg.kg-1) and midazolam (0.25mg.kg-1) followed isoflurane vaporization to induce and maintain hypnosis. A bolus of fentanyl (5 μg.kg-1) was administered intravenously to provide intraoperative analgesia. After surgery, pain scores were assessed through a multidimensional composite pain scale at four different times. RESULTS: Generally all factors related to psychomotor changes and pain expression showed higher scores in cats neutered by LA, but only psychomotor changes and total pain score presented statistical differences (p<0.05). The animals that underwent lateral celiotomy showed higher pain scores, at 1, 4 and 6 hours after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Multidimensional analgesic scales were highly reliable. There was a tendency for the cats neutered by lateral approach to suffer more postoperative pain, including requiring a large number of analgesic rescues.