title: Survey of Ontario veterinarians' knowledge and attitudes on pain in dogs and cats in 2012.
abstract: Appropriate management of animal pain is a critical component of optimal animal welfare in small animal veterinary clinics. An online convenience survey was used to examine the knowledge and attitudes of practicing veterinarians in Ontario about pain in dogs (n= 100) and cats (n= 139). Veterinarian participants showed strong agreement with the need for appropriate animal pain relief, and low agreement with lack of analgesic use due to cost or side effects. All of the surgical procedures included in the survey were ranked as being moderately to highly painful, but female veterinarians had higher median rankings. Importantly, 78% of veterinarians thought their knowledge about pain recognition was sufficient. Selection bias might have resulted in overestimates of attitudes about pain in comparison to the general veterinary population. However, these results suggest that knowledge and attitudes related to pain assessment and treatment in dogs and cats have improved since the last similar survey in 2001.
authors.affiliation: Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beswick
authors.affiliation: Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Cate
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dewey
authors.affiliation: Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dowsett-Cooper
authors.affiliation: Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Niel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002415:Cats; D003625:Data Collection; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018634:Veterinarians