Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Learn About Pain Relief For Horses

By Dennis Long


The domestic animals are vital in or life. It is thus important for those having them to good care of them. Taking good care entails monitoring their health and treating them when they are sick. In most parts, horses are kept for sports activities and leisure. Therefore when they are under anguish, they cannot serve effectively. For this reason, you need to employ various pain management methods to treat them in a case of illness; Pain Relief for Horses is therehence very crucial.

Methods of pain management in horses range from nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs to agonists and ketamine among other drugs. Over the years, research and experience have assisted the veterinarians in determining the most effective painkillers.

The nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs also called NSAIDs have over the years been the mainstay of equine analgesia for quite some time now. There are two commonly used drugs in this category. They include phenylbutazone and flunixin meglumine. These two drugs are very effective in the treatment of different ailments in the animals. Examples of such ailments include musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal and ocular pains.

Recent studies have also shown that a topical NSAID is effective in treating some pains and inflammation with considerably minimal side effects. This drug can again be used to improve mobility and in reducing lameness in the animals. It is important to note that each drug has a certain amount of chemical composition and level at which the chemicals causes toxicity. In this case, toxicity usually is as a result of overdosing these horses with medication.

The next category of the anesthetics is the opioids. The opioids are often used with a combination of sedatives and tranquilizers while doing standing procedures. The drugs provide short term treatment, and they are administered by infusion. These drugs have severe side effects when misused thus you need to be very careful when giving them to the animals.

The next category is the agonists. These are systematic analgesics. Through laboratory work and clinical procedures, they have been proved to the most effective in the pain management. They usually are used to make the body of the animals not to be sensitive to anguish while performing standing operations. Besides, they are applied in the treatment of colic illness.

Ketamine is another drug applied in this program. It primary function is to make animals experiencing upregulation of neuronal pathways. This condition is usually painful hence ketamine is provided to make the body of the animal not to be sensitive to pains. Furthermore, when it is given to the animals in quantities, it assists in healing chronic pain disorders.

Practitioners also use local anesthetics such as lidocaine and carbocaine regularly for regional anesthesia. The use of intravenously injected lidocaine helps to reduce pains as well reducing doses of inhaled anesthetics in the animals. However, scientists are yet to determine how this drug works.

Another local pain reliever is tramadol. This drug is believed to possess some opioid properties. This drug is commonly available in oral form. There are side effects associated with the drug such as trembling, sweating and excitement. Therefore, before using it, you need to consult your veterinarian.




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