Donate to IVAPM While Shopping on Amazon!

The holidays are just around the corner and if you will be using Amazon to make any of your purchases don't forget you can be donating to IVAPM at the same time. To learn how you can add IVAPM as your AmazonSmile charity watch the video below. Happy shopping and donating! 

Program Just Announced

Please plan on joining us April 2 - 4, 2023, at The Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia for the 2nd Annual Pain Management Forum. The program was just released and registration will open prior to the end of the year so be on the lookout!

Save the Date for Your Next IVAPM Live! 

Your next IVAPM Live will be taking place on December 14, 2022, at 8:00PM EST. 

Make sure you join Melina Zimmerman to discuss
Acupuncture for Pain Management. 
 
Reminder: You can always join via the IVAPM Members Only Facebook group to view the session live as well! 

Join Our Social Media! 

Have you joined our growing crowd on social media?

As of newsletter publication time, we have 10,735 page likes on Facebook, 6,768 members in our closed Facebook page and 2,952 Instagram followers! If you haven’t seen these Facebook fan favorites, be sure you check out Dr. Lindsey Fry's LIVE! (7,900 likes/reactions/shares) and "Don't forget about your exotics!" post we shared from Animal Medical Center (5,700 likes/reactions/shares).

Top countries with the most members in our members only Facebook group: USA, Canada, UK, India, and Mexico.

Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (#IVAPM, #NoPain).

Poll Results from the
IVAPM November
Newsletter

Thanks for participating in the November poll on pharmacologic treatment of chronic pain! 100% of respondents are using NSAIDs in dogs and about 80% are using NSAIDs in cats. Gabapentin had 100% use in both dogs and cats. Other drugs were used mostly in the 25-75% range, with ketamine and amantadine used more commonly than most other drugs. We also had two write-ins for acetaminophen (dogs only) and naltrexone. Thanks for sharing those ideas!!! The main result is that multimodal analgesia is commonly used – way to go IVAPM’ers!

For Solensia^TM (chemical name frunevetmab), those using it love it! Some respondents don’t have access to the drug yet and hopefully the drug will arrive in more countries soon! Where the drug is available, there are still some clinics that might want more information on the drug. Solensia ^TM is a product from Zoetis, one of IVAPM’s strategic partners. We will continue to highlight scientifically valid analgesic products/techniques from our strategic partners where appropriate. We want YOU to know everything that we know! So click here for more information on Solensia ^TM and here for a thorough review of the drug class (feline specific anti-nerve growth factor monoclonal antibody; antiNGFmAb). And PLEASE click here and here for websites with Solensia ^TM and pain identification information for cat parents. If cat parents aren’t seeing pain in cats, we won’t see cats in pain in our hospitals. It is estimated that up to 40% of all cats, ¹ and up to 90% of senior cats, ² have some degree of chronic pain from OA, yet only about 13% of cats are actually diagnosed with OA pain.¹ What a travesty to have all of those painful cats out there and not be able to treat them because their human doesn’t recognize pain. We need to educate humans on what cat pain looks like! Which is a good reason to use the resources listed above – and also a good lead-in to September – which is Animal Pain Awareness Month. Join us in our mission to increase the awareness of animal pain next September, click here for more information! 

1. Lascelles BD, et al.: Cross-sectional study of the prevalence of radiographic degenerative joint disease in domesticated cats. Vet Surg 2010; 39: 535-44.

2. Hardie EM, Roe SC, Martin FR, et al. Radiographic evidence of degenerative joint disease in geriatric cats: 100 cases (1994-1997). J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2002;220(5):628-32

Finally, we are very excited about the response to "would you be interested in a lab on local/regional anesthetic injections", 100% said YES! So stay tuned for the final announcement, but we think that many of you might want to register for the IVAPM Pain Management Forum in Atlanta, GA on April 2-4, 2023! 

This month we would love to know your daily use of non-pharmacologic
modalities for pain management!

Question 1: What equipment do you use in practice for pain management?

Many practitioners utilize non-pharmacologic options for chronic pain and rehabilitation, especially osteoarthritis. Did you know that non-pharmacologic can be helpful in providing multimodal analgesia for acute and emergent pain conditions also? The most common non- pharma devices used for acute and emergent pain are the therapy laser and the pEMF devices.

New Poll Questions!

Treatment of Non-Pharmacologic Pain!  

Question 2: What do you use your therapy laser for?

Question 3: What do you use a PEMF device for? 

Question 4: There are lots of other things that are considered to be helpful in the treatment of acute and chronic pain. What else do you use?

Question 5: Everyone has a favorite addition to their multimodal analgesia plan for chronic osteoarthritis in dogs. A lot of choices depend on what you have available in your region. What is your favorite multimodal plan for painful, arthritic dogs?

Chronic Pain In Cats! 

Check out the new cat-parent video Zoetis TV Spot, 'Saying Ow in Different Ways' and website (Cat Red Flags | Understand the Signs of Osteoarthritis Pain in Cats) on recognizing chronic pain in cats. This commercial will soon air on a variety of TV networks. We should prepare to see more painful cats in our hospitals.

IVAPM Student Membership!  

If you know a veterinary or veterinary technician student, encourage them to check out IVAPM resources for students, which includes FREE MEMBERSHIP!