Abstract
BackgroundThe recognition and measurement of pain in cattle are important in determining the necessity for and efficacy of analgesic intervention. The aim of this study was to record behaviour and determine the validity and reliability of an instrument to assess acute pain in 40 cattle subjected to orchiectomy after sedation with xylazine and local anaesthesia. The animals were filmed before and after orchiectomy to record behaviour. The pain scale was based on previous studies, on a pilot study and on analysis of the camera footage. Three blinded observers and a local observer assessed the edited films obtained during the preoperative and postoperative periods, before and after rescue analgesia and 24 hours after surgery. Re-evaluation was performed one month after the first analysis. Criterion validity (agreement) and item-total correlation using Spearman's coefficient were employed to refine the scale. Based on factor analysis, a unidimensional scale was adopted.ResultsThe internal consistency of the data was excellent after refinement (Cronbach’s α coefficient = 0.866). There was a high correlation (p < 0.001) between the proposed scale and the visual analogue, simple descriptive and numerical rating scales. The construct validity and responsiveness were confirmed by the increase and decrease in pain scores after surgery and rescue analgesia, respectively (p < 0.001). Inter- and intra-observer reliability ranged from moderate to very good. The optimal cut-off point for rescue analgesia was > 4, and analysis of the area under the curve (AUC = 0.963) showed excellent discriminatory ability.ConclusionThe UNESP-Botucatu unidimensional pain scale for assessing acute postoperative pain in cattle is a valid, reliable and responsive instrument with excellent internal consistency and discriminatory ability. The cut-off point for rescue analgesia provides an additional tool for guiding analgesic therapy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-014-0200-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The recognition and measurement of pain in cattle are important in determining the necessity for and efficacy of analgesic intervention
In surveys of veterinarians concerning the use of analgesics in cattle practice, lack of knowledge in recognising pain [6], the belief that farm animals feel less pain than smaller animals [7], economic reasons [8,9] and the lack of valid and reliable instruments to assess pain have been cited as the main reasons why analgesics are not used more frequently [6]
Because animals are unable to report their pain as humans can [1], the recognition of pain in animals requires the ability to understand the behaviour of the target species, the behavioural changes typically observed in animals in pain and the specific changes that occur in each animal’s behaviour in response to pain
Summary
The recognition and measurement of pain in cattle are important in determining the necessity for and efficacy of analgesic intervention. The aim of this study was to record behaviour and determine the validity and reliability of an instrument to assess acute pain in 40 cattle subjected to orchiectomy after sedation with xylazine and local anaesthesia. The animals were filmed before and after orchiectomy to record behaviour. The pain scale was based on previous studies, on a pilot study and on analysis of the camera footage. The assessment of pain in animals is challenging due to their lack of verbal expression [1]. The assessment of pain in cattle is important in determining the need for analgesic intervention, in evaluating the effectiveness of treatment and in comparing the effects of various analgesics. There are no validated scales for the assessment of acute postoperative pain in cattle
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