Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat showing increased pain sensitivity possibly from opioid treatment
By Borland, Karla & Garcia, Eva Rioja·Published in Companion Animal·2019·Anderson Moores, Poles Lane, Hursley, Winchester SO21 2LL·View original on Crossref →
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Original publication title: Case report: possible opioid-induced hyperalgesia in a cat
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old male cat was experiencing increased sensitivity to pain after being treated with opioids for pain relief. When the veterinarian stopped the opioid medication, the cat's pain levels improved significantly. This case highlights the importance of customizing pain management for each pet and considering different types of pain relief to avoid complications like opioid-induced hyperalgesia, where the medication can actually make pain worse.
People also search for: cat pain relief options · opioid side effects in cats · why is my cat more sensitive to pain
Abstract
Opioid-induced hyperalgesia is a recognised phenomenon in human medicine and in experimental animal studies. This case report describes a cat that appeared to have an increased nociceptive response when treated with opioids. Withdrawal of opioid analgesia resulted in improvement in the pain score. This case emphasises the need to tailor analgesia to individual cases, consider multi-modal analgesia and alerts veterinary surgeons to the possibility of opioid-induced hyperalgesia.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Crossref: https://doi.org/10.12968/coan.2019.24.5.246