Acupuncture and pharmacopuncture are as effective as morphine or carprofen for postoperative analgesia in bitches undergoing ovariohysterectomy.

Purpose: To investigate the analgesic effect of acupuncture (AP) or micro-dose pharmacopuncture (PA), using carprofen or morphine, in bitches undergoing ovariohysterectomy (OHE).

Methods: Thirty five dogs were randomly assigned to five groups after sedation with acepromazine IM: AP, 0.5 mg.kg(-1) of morphine subcutaneously (SC), 4 mg.kg(-1) of carprofen SC, and PA with 0.05 mg.kg(-1) of morphine or 0.4 mg.kg(-1) of carprofen. Anaesthesia was induced with propofol and maintained with isoflurane. Pain was assessed after OHE by a blind observer for 24h, by dynamic visual analogue scale (DIVAS), Glasgow (CMPS-SF), Melbourne (UMPS) and Colorado University pain scale (CSU). Animals reaching 33% of the UMPS score received rescue analgesia with morphine IM. Non parametric data were analysed by Kruskal-Wallis or Friedman tests where applicable, followed by Dunn's test. Parametric data were analysed by two way ANOVA, followed by Tukey test.

Results: There were no differences among groups in number of rescue analgesia. Except for the DIVAS score where animals treated with morphine had the lowest score compared with AP and carprofen, at 1h after surgery, there were no other differences among groups.

Conclusion: Acupuncture or pharmacopuncture were equally effective as morphine or carprofen to control postoperative pain in bitches undergoing ovariohysterectomy.