title: Differences in attitudes of farmers and veterinarians towards pain in dairy cows.
abstract: Attitudes towards pain and the use of analgesics in dairy cows were evaluated based on a questionnaire answered by 137 Danish veterinarians and 189 Danish dairy farmers. Respondents were asked to score the perceived pain associated with a number of diseases in dairy cows on a scale from 1 (no pain) to 10 (very painful) assuming that no analgesics were used. Additionally, they were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a number of statements regarding pain and use of analgesics in cows. A large variability in pain scores for individual diseases was found among both farmers and veterinarians. The same disease was scored as 'very painful' by some respondents and as 'not painful' by others; however, farmers and veterinarians generally agreed which diseases were painful and which were not. Farmers considered most of the disease conditions to be slightly more painful than veterinarians but were less likely to use analgesics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark. PeterT.Thomsen@agrsci.dk
authors.forename: Peter T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Thomsen
authors.forename: Inger
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Anneberg
authors.forename: Mette S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Herskin
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D003612:Dairying; D003625:Data Collection; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000662:veterinary*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018634:Veterinarians; D014730:Veterinary Medicine / Q000592:standards