As part of any assessment process at Sunnyview Animal Care, your pet will receive a pain assessment in keeping with both the Colorado State Pain Assessment guidelines for dogs and cats, and those of the AAHA/AAFP Pain Assessment Protocol. Many pets have developed the unusual ability to “hide” or mask their pain as part of their ancestral survival skill development. The net result of this is that your pet can experience pain but not exhibit any obvious signs or symptoms of it.

Many of our clients find themselves in a situation where they have been unaware of their pet’s discomfort or pain looking for more obvious signs of crying out, or whimpering if an area of discomfort is touched. Instead, look for signs or symptoms of; decreased energy, decreased interest in play, changes in behavior(guarding limb or not enjoying brushing anymore), or a sudden change in house training habits-can be symptoms that many clients will attribute to the pets age when actually they could be due to pain & discomfort that they are experiencing. The most obvious signs of discomfort are lack of interesting climbing stairs, difficulty getting on and off couches or beds, reluctance to lower their head to eat or, just being slow to get up and greet us when we come in our homes.

As part of your pet’s annual Wellness Assessment, we will use our experience and compassion based on your history and your pet’s physical symptoms to give your pet a pain assessment score and, discuss possible methods or medications to decrease their discomfort. Many times with proper use of supplementation and, some lifestyle changes we can make everyone’s anxiety reduce significantly. At other times medications and rehabilitation options using certified rehabilitation specialists available in our area combined with CO2 laser therapy may be a reasonable consideration for your family.

Before medications are used however, Sunnyview Animal Care recommends a reasonable blood work assessment and, then discussion of not only the goals of the medication but also regarding what you and your pet can expect at a recheck assessment or, follow-up phone conversation and review of all the information obtained from your wellness assessment visit with us. Unfortunately, human medications that we used commonly for pain management have undesirable and avoidable a fax in our pets-we recommend that you not give your pet any human medications without a discussion or timely Wellness Assessment with us at your earliest opportunity.