Pain recognition and treatment in the horse: a survey of equine veterinarians in The Netherlands and Belgium.

This survey investigated the attitudes of equine veterinarians in The Netherlands and the Flemish region of Belgium towards pain management in the horse. Questionnaires were sent out to 771 equine veterinarians, all members of the Dutch or Flemish equine practitioners society. The return rate of completed questionnaires was 16.6%. The survey provided information about the use of analgesic drugs, factors influencing their prescription, pain scoring, analgesic therapy for specific clinical conditions, use of epidural analgesia, and appraisal of personal knowledge of pain management. The pain scores attributed to specific clinical conditions showed considerable variation. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) were the most-often prescribed analgesic drugs, with older drugs still having an important role in pain management. Butorphanol was the main opioid used. A substantial proportion of the respondents considered their knowledge of pain recognition and analgesic therapy to be insufficient or moderate.