title: Use of a new finger-mounted device to compare mechanical nociceptive thresholds in cats given pethidine or no medication after castration.
abstract: Mechanical nociceptive thresholds are regularly used to determine the efficacy of analgesic agents both experimentally and clinically in a variety of species. The 'pressure of palpation device' (PPD) was developed for use in cats and is a small battery operated device with a finger-mounted force sensing resistor (FSR, Interlink Electronics, Northumberland. UK). The PPD was used in a study assessing the analgesic efficacy of pethidine after castration in cats. Pethidine was demonstrated to prevent the development of post-operative scrotal hypersensitivity for up to 2 hours after castration, whereas cats given no analgesics showed marked hyperalgesia immediately after surgery. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain scores after castration showed a similar analgesic effect of pethidine. These results suggest that the PPD could become a useful research tool to assess the effectiveness of analgesic agents in the cat.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Langford House, Bristol, UK. Louisa.Slingsby@bristol.ac.uk
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Slingsby
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Waterman-Pearson
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats / Q000502:physiology*; D006930:Hyperalgesia / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D008614:Meperidine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009919:Orchiectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000187:drug effects*; D011897:Random Allocation; D012611:Scrotum / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D008614:Meperidine