Dr. Barrow's Notes
Pain Management
 Pain management in veterinary medicine has quickly evolved over the past 10 years. The attitude of let the pet be, “he doesn’t need any pain medicine” is a thing of the past.
The staff at Marshfield Animal Hospital is devoted to keeping your pets pain free. Animals that are injured or that have painful medical conditions are assumed to be in pain and treated with appropriate analgesics in the hospital, and when stable, they are sent home with either oral medications or a patch that continuously delivers potent pain medication through the skin.
All surgical patients are managed with preemptive analgesics, meaning medications are delivered before any potentially painful procedures are done. Multimodal analgesia is also employed in order to block pain at more than angle. For instance, any orthopedic procedures would have local anesthesia to numb regional nerves, general anesthesia to keep the patient unconscious during the procedure; a narcotic agent to block pain reception in the brain and an anti-inflammatory drug to prevent pain producing chemicals from being released at the surgical site.
Our staff is trained in assessing and scoring pain in each patient and deciding on the level of pain control to be administered.
Coming to the hospital can be stressful enough for some animals, so if we can make them more comfortable during their stay, this is better for all.
The staff is also educated to provide the most up-to-date methods of pain control for chronic situations such as osteoarthritis, which affects the majority of geriatric patients. We can thus improve the quality of life in aging pets and help them live longer.
Please feel free to ask our staff about a tailor-fit pain management program for your pet.
Lyme Disease Alert!!
Spring and fall are the two seasons in New England we see ticks infesting our pets. There has been an increasing number of dogs in the area becoming infected with Lyme Disease, which is contracted  from deer tick bites.
Marshfield Animal Hospital believes that tick control is the best means of preventing transmission of Lyme Disease. We carry the three most effective products on the market to keep ticks from infecting your pets: Frontline, Advantix and Preventic collars.
Some dogs may be at higher risk for Lyme Disease and may be good candidates for a vaccine to further prevent infection. The vaccination is somewhat controversial and should be discussed with our staff veterinarians.
Testing for Lyme Disease may be recommended if your dog may have been exposed to any ticks and has any of the following clinical signs: fever, lethargy, stiff or swollen joints. We have the most up-to-date testing procedure for Lyme Disease and can have results in our lab within 15 minutes.
Call us today to schedule an appointment with one of our veterinarians.
Email Us Marshfield Animal Hospital
490 Plain Street, Route 139
(Near Marshfield High School)
Marshfield, MA 02050
(781) 837-5005
(781) 837-3005 Fax
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