Acute pain sign recognition by dog owners in a home setting

To identify behavioural changes indicative for acute pain in dogs that are recognized by their owners and the wording used to describe these, we asked owners of 51 dogs treated at the Small Animal Clinic of Utrecht University, to document and video tape observed behavioural changes and estimate their dog’s level of pain within the first week after clinical discharge. Quantitative data was tested with logistic regression analysis for the predictability of certain behavioural changes to occur at higher owner-estimated pain scores. Owner-recorded videos were analysed independently by three veterinarians to provide a professional reference perspective. Free text entries from participants were analysed qualitatively and the wording used by owners whose dogs were deemed in pain according to the veterinary video evaluation, was extracted. We found that the most often reported behavioural changes on the day of discharge, and on the two days thereafter were: changes in walking (72.1% n = 44/61), playing with an object (70.5%, n = 43/61) and playing with the owner (68.9%, n = 42/61). The empirical data indicated a decrease in, e.g., playing behaviour, explorative behaviour and eating. Logistic regression analyses showed a significant association between owner-estimated pain scores and behavioural changes for these tested items. No correlation was found between pain estimation by the veterinarians and the dog owners. The qualitative text analysis of entries from owners whose dogs were deemed in pain, provided insight into wording used to describe pain-related behavioural changes by owners, that may be used in the context of developing an owner-directed acute pain scoring instrument. Such an instrument is needed to help owners recognize and correctly interpret pain-induced behavioural changes, to ensure adequate pain management and animal welfare after clinical discharge.