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.

Partial amputation of the left antebrachium was performed for left radial osteosarcoma in a 19-month-old Borzoi dog. Six months postoperatively, metastases of osteosarcoma to the left axillary and left superficial cervical lymph nodes with marked pain were observed. Medical pain management was ineffective. Therefore, palliative surgical resection of both lymph nodes was performed, and the pain was well-controlled. In addition to the compression of the brachial plexus by the metastasized lymph nodes, necrosis and hemorrhage associated with the rapid enlargement of the lymph nodes, which was evident in histopathological examination of the resected lymph nodes, may cause pain. These results suggest that surgical removal of metastatic lymph nodes is well tolerated and could improve the quality of life of the affected dog.

A 15 year-old spayed female domestic cat presented with a subcutaneous mass on the ventral side of the external ear canal. A salivary gland tumor was suspected, and its size continued to increase. On day 49, a mass protruding from the ventral edge of the parotid gland was surgically excised. The mass was diagnosed as an oncocytoma by histopathological examination, histochemical staining, and immunostaining for cytochrome C. No recurrence or metastasis has been observed for 17 months after the operation. This is the first report of parotid gland oncocytoma in a cat with long-term postoperative survival.