Pain management in sheep and goats: Applications and techniques

As small ruminants increase in popularity as production and companion animals in North America, clinicians are routinely challenged with determining pain mitigation strategies for sheep and goats. With no FDA or similarly labeled pain medi­cations for sheep or goats currently on the market, small ru­minant practitioners are often tasked with developing creative analgesic strategies for these species. Preemptive and multi­modal analgesia can be used to mitigate pain, in addition to directed therapies such as ultrasound-guided local anesthesia and focused catheterization such as wound soaker catheters or epidural catheters. Additionally, several non-pharmacologic methods, such as acupuncture, can also be utilized for the miti­gation of pain in sheep and goats.