Minnie had her morphine patch removed yesterday and we had a long talk with Dr. Suzanne Fariello about pain. Essentially, it seems to me that vets treat animals for pain much the same way medical doctors treat humans. For severe pain, the kind of morphine patch commonly used for recovering surgical and hospice patients. One doctor prescribed medication for Minnie for “phantom pain,” common phenomena with human amputees. They feel pain in their limbs long after they are gone, and there is considerable debate about the causes and treatment of this pain, which is very real.

A side affect of morphine is constipation caused by the hardening of the stools and Minnie has not had a bowel movement for three days, so we returned her to the vet this morning for an enema to open up her system. I am not a vet, but I have a sense that here biggest struggle now is with the pain medication rather than the pain. This morning, one day after the patch was removed, she walked for the first time across the living room floor, she was alert and verbal. She wouldn’t eat, which suggested to us that her stomach was bothering her.

Otherwise, she exhibited none of the symptoms usually shown by animals in pain – sluggishness, a twitching of the mouth or whiskers, a lack of animation. I have a good friend who is a vet and he believes that animals suffer more from pain medication than from pain. Obviously, the patch is a good idea after an amputation, but it is not really known how animals process pain or whether they feel or react to it the way humans do. Minnie looks more alert by the day, she is still disoriented, seeking balance and testing her own mobility. After she walks a bit, she is exhausted, and sleeps for hours. I will be curious to see how she acts once her bowels are cleared, and now that she is off of morphine.

There are eight more days to go before the metal stitches come out of her amputation wound which is healing beautifully. She can’t go outside because of the danger flies and insects will get in her wound, she is sleeping soundly and quietly through the night. I am interested in this question of pain and will be watching her over the next few days.