My career in veterinary medicine began in 1988 when I got a job at North Florida Animal Hospital as a kennel technician. The responsibilities included mostly cleaning, bathing (and dipping), and general animal husbandry. The primary flea and tick treatment (not prevention) was flea shampoo and dipping dogs thereafter. Frontline came out in a spray formulation roughly during that time, but I still remember the smell of the dip agent. It had a very petroleum odor that I never seemed to get out of my clothes or nose. In the 35 years since, the advancements in veterinary medicine and practice have evolved at an amazing pace. The technology for diagnostics that was only afforded by a few practices is nearly ubiquitous now and the speed of such delivery has given us the chance for our patients to live healthier and longer lives than ever before. Among the veterinary specific medicines that have been invented and implemented, including parasite prevention, heart, and allergy medicines, the development of medicine to treat pain has truly been a blessing for our pets.
I remember when Pfizer introduced Rimadyl (carprofen) in around 1996 and it was the first and only FDA approved class of drugs for treating pain (acute and chronic) in canine patients. The NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) have remained the only veterinary specific pain medicines since that time. Unfortunately, our cat patients can’t handle much of that type of drug. We have, collectively, used a vast array of human developed drugs to treat pain in dogs and cats that either had little or unknown effect and dosing has been based off human studies or anecdotal and subjective.
At a recent conference I attended, I saw a very busy slide in a presentation that detailed the disease of chronic pain. Pain associated with chronic inflammatory conditions like arthritis and one word stuck out to me…” demoralization”. It was used to describe the mental state of a pet who suffered from chronic pain. We know what it looks like to see our pet friends limp and have mobility issues, but the thought that they were depressed in some way because of their immobility struck a nerve with me. Many of them in fact remain very mentally awake and want to be active.
Lots of research has gone into addressing this need and a new class of drugs for both dogs and cats has shown great efficacy in controlling the pathways of pain. The class is broadly called anti-nerve growth factor monoclonal antibody. The trade names are Solensia and Librela for cats and dogs respectively and are administered as a monthly injection. While pain of arthritis is the chief target, there are many conditions leading to chronic pain that could benefit from this type of drug. The pain pathway targeted is different than the NSAIDs and, in combination, can work synergistically in canine patients. These, coupled with ideal body conditions, acupuncture, physical therapy, and laser therapy have given us the opportunity to enrich and extend the lives of our patients well beyond what we had just a few years ago. I am continually amazed and grateful for the technology we have to keep our pets healthy and comfortable.
Troy Youngblood, DVM
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