Behavioural repertoire of working donkeys and consistency of behaviour over time, as a preliminary step towards identifying pain-related behaviours.

Background: The donkey has a reputation for stoicism and its behavioural repertoire in clinical contexts is under-reported. Lack of understanding of the norms of donkey behaviour and how it may vary over time can compromise use of behavioural measures as indicators of pain or emotional state. The objective of this study was to find out whether the behaviour of working donkeys was influenced by gender, the time of day or differed between days with a view to assessing how robust these measures are for inclusion in a working donkey ethogram.

Thermal nociceptive threshold testing detects altered sensory processing in broiler chickens with spontaneous lameness.

Lameness is common in commercially reared broiler chickens but relationships between lameness and pain (and thus bird welfare) have proved complex, partly because lameness is often partially confounded with factors such as bodyweight, sex and pathology. Thermal nociceptive threshold (TNT) testing explores the neural processing of noxious stimuli, and so can contribute to our understanding of pain. Using an acute model of experimentally induced articular pain, we recently demonstrated that TNT was reduced in lame broiler chickens, and was subsequently attenuated by administration of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs).

Thermal nociception as a measure of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug effectiveness in broiler chickens with articular pain.

Pain associated with poultry lameness is poorly understood. The anti-nociceptive properties of two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were evaluated using threshold testing in combination with an acute inflammatory arthropathy model. Broilers were tested in six groups (n=8 per group).

Kinematic analysis quantifies gait abnormalities associated with lameness in broiler chickens and identifies evolutionary gait differences.

This is the first time that gait characteristics of broiler (meat) chickens have been compared with their progenitor, jungle fowl, and the first kinematic study to report a link between broiler gait parameters and defined lameness scores. A commercial motion-capturing system recorded three-dimensional temporospatial information during walking. The hypothesis was that the gait characteristics of non-lame broilers (n = 10) would be intermediate to those of lame broilers (n = 12) and jungle fowl (n = 10, tested at two ages: immature and adult).

A comparison between pre-operative carprofen and a long-acting sufentanil formulation for analgesia after ovariohysterectomy in dogs.

Objective: To assess the analgesic efficacy and adverse effects of a novel, long-acting sufentanil preparation in dogs undergoing ovariohysterectomy (OHE).

Study Design: Blinded, positively controlled, randomized field trial with four parallel treatment groups.

Animals: Eighty client owned dogs undergoing elective OHE randomly allocated into four treatment groups (each n = 20).

Assessment of the influence of surgical technique on postoperative pain and wound tenderness in cats following ovariohysterectomy.

Elective ovariohysterectomy was performed on 66 cats. Surgical approach was flank (group F) or midline (group M) allocated by block randomisation. Pre-anaesthetic medication was acepromazine (0.

Investigation of the EEG effects of intravenous lidocaine during halothane anaesthesia in ponies.

Objective: To record the electroencephalographic changes during castration in ponies anaesthetized with halothane and given intravenous (IV) lidocaine by infusion. The hypothesis tested was that in ponies, IV lidocaine is antinociceptive and would therefore obtund EEG changes during castration.

Animals: Ten Welsh mountain ponies referred to the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Cambridge for castration under general anaesthesia.

Changes in the EEG during castration in horses and ponies anaesthetized with halothane.

Objective: To identify changes in the amplitude spectrum of the electroencephalogram (EEG) during a standardized surgical model of nociception in horses.

Animals: Thirteen entire male horses and ponies referred to Division of Clinical Veterinary Science, Bristol (n = 9) and Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine (n = 4) for castration.

Materials And Methods: Following pre-anaesthetic medication with acepromazine, anaesthesia was induced with guaiphenesin and thiopental and maintained with halothane in oxygen.