Usefulness of Pain Scales for Postoperative Pain in Dogs

Abstract

Many pain scales have been proposed for postoperative pain assessment in dogs. This study aimed to determine the canine pain scale with few measurement errors and high usefulness. Three independent evaluators used five types of pain scales to evaluate pain in 13 dogs. The pain scales were: a visual analog scale and a numerical rating scale, short form of the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale, Colorado State University Canine Acute Pain Scale, and Canine Acute Pain Scale developed by the Japanese Society of Study for Animal Pain. The assessment was scored preoperatively, 2 hours after extubation, and 1 day after surgery. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to evaluate the interobserver measurement error, and if ICC was ≥0.7, the measurement error is considered to be low. This study demonstrates that the Colorado State University Canine Acute Pain Scale has few measurement errors as a perioperative pain scale.