Pain in your patients:

• A. Can exacerbate or even cause FAS and/or aggression
• B. Should be treated before the patient comes to the hospital if at all possible
• C. Can be a problem in patients that have received naloxone or atipamezole
• D. All of the above are true

Answer: (D)

Pain drives fear, anxiety, and stress in patients and can trigger aggression during handling. Treating pain reduces these distress signals, making handling safer and smoother for both animal and staff. Ideally, analgesia should be planned and started before the patient reaches the hospital when possible, to blunt pain-related stress from the outset. Pain can reappear or worsen when reversal agents such as naloxone or atipamezole are used, because they reverse analgesia or sedation and unmask pain. Taken together, these points show that all of the statements are true.