What is a Veterinary Pain Practitioner?

Pain Management and Palliative Care In Our Pets

In October 2020, I became a Certified Veterinary Pain Practitioner from the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management. This certification is awarded to individuals who have met the organization’s standards for education, training and experience in interdisciplinary pain management.

This means that my practice has a special interest in pain prevention, management and treatment. Pain management starts with the ability to recognize pain; which can be challenging especially in cases of chronic pain or in cats, who hide pain so well. We utilize a number of validated pain scales such as ones from Pain Free Cats and Canine Brief Pain Inventory.

An important area of my practice is managing pain for patients in palliative and hospice care. As my patients adjust to their life-limiting disease, their quality of life depends on the proper management of their comfort. Pain is best managed from a multimodal perspective.

As this field of pain management is rapidly expanding, I am committed to advocating for best practices in the treatment of animals in pain. This involves the combination use of prescription medicines, supplements and complementary treatments such as acupuncture, electrical stimulation and laser therapy. Thus, I am able to offer multiple treatment modalities to provide relief of pain because this is where we can expect the best outcome.