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How do I prevent pain in my pet? Hi. My name’s Dr. Sean McPeck I’m the owner and CEO of Tier 1 Veterinary Medical Center. So it’s kind of a broad topic, and it has to do with a lot of different things. Why is this pain there is this pain there because of arthritic issues that we’re seeing, especially in our geriatric and older, older pets. Is this something that has been diagnosed as something to do with a developmental abnormality or is this something post-surgical?

There are a lot of different options when it comes to pain management, and from my experience, a multimodal approach is much better than just using one medication. The most common medication that is given is what we call an NSAID and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, and it comes in. There’s quite a few different ones, and one of the more popular ones is car paraffin, but it comes also with the possibly some side effects, especially has to do with the GI issues. But I find that using that in combination depending on what the issue is, but get really good results with a medication called Gabapentin.

Now I prefer to use it at lower levels and then then the higher end of the dosing range because you can get some grogginess with that, some drowsiness, and then it starts really kind of expanding from there, depending on the severity of the issue. There are some opiates that we can do. Fentanyl patches that we can do that help to give really good pain management.

This is a very painful procedure. We even now have it. You know, if this was an orthopedic procedure, there’s injections that are long acting, local anesthetics. Let’s say we have an arthritic joint. We’ve got a lot of options for injecting into that joint anything from PRP, which is platelet rich plasma to stem cells, and now some new products coming out that help to create a smoother surface on that highland cartilage to reduce pain and inflammation.

That is some of the initial ways that we can do it, but then we can start getting into some of the alternative therapies. You’ve got electromagnetic therapy. What we call the CC loop helps to reduce inflammation in pain. We’ve got the cold laser class for laser photo bile modulation helps to increase ATP at the cellular level to help increase healing, reduce inflammation. It’s absolutely phenomenal for pain especially, and healing wounds and especially joint pain. There’s even cold compression therapy that we can use, you know, very similar to what we call the rice method, right. For humans. You can hear that from your physical therapist. Well, you need you need to rest ice it compression and elevation. Well, it’s really difficult to get our our pets to elevate a painful limb, but we can definitely rest them. We can definitely ice it. And there’s compression and the cold compression therapy, the most popular unit that we have is called a game ready. It uses compression through air while it’s circulating cold water, ice water through it, and then it releases the pressure and then it contracts and dries the pressure. And what that does is help to increase circulation deep but remove inflammation.

Speaking about some of the other therapies, depending on the level of pain and depending on why the pain is there, there’s a product called ATAC, one that helps to reduce arthritic pain and weekly injection. So there’s a lot of different things out there. And then there’s a whole list of pain medications that we can attach. But the more receptors and different receptors that we go after for controlling pain that multimodal kind of synergistic approach to it, you’re going to get a much better therapeutic level of pain control, and you can use lower doses of the medications. Each of the medications there’s a drug called Amantadine. Amantadine is an NMDA receptor agonist called Methyl D ASPARTATE and that receptor really helps to reduce pain. So if you use that in combination with something like Gabapentin and an NSAID, and then we even know that certain tricyclic antidepressants one amitriptyline and nor tripling, but amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressants and at low levels that really helps with some pain, different types of pain. So there’s a lot of options out there. The biggest thing is talking to your veterinarian and trying something, starting off low and seeing how it works. And because you can always increase the dosing, you can always increase the frequency of dosing, you can always add more medications and there’s a lot of different options out there.

A 2010 Graduate of Colorado State College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Sean McPeck developed his leadership as a Sniper Team Leader and Veterinarian with the US Army Special Operations, 75th Ranger Regiment.

Dr. McPeck has multiple combat deployments, totaling almost 2 years in combat theaters of operation.

He is the recipient of the Combat Action Badge, and is Ranger, Sniper, and Airborne qualified. While serving as an officer in Special Operations, Dr. McPeck was repeatedly recognized for his Honor, Integrity, Courage and Selfless Service in the name of the United States. He was recognized with not one, but two, Meritorious Service Medals.

Under his leadership, Dr. McPeck worked with Working Dog handlers, and canine units, to detain and seize enemy combatants. The canines that Dr. McPeck worked with are credited with savings thousands of United States soldiers deployed in combat areas.

Dr. McPeck authored The RCAP, Ranger Canine Athletic Program, which was the 1st comprehensive Military canine conditioning program.

His specific training and certification classes for Dog handlers to be proficient in Canine Tactical- Combat Casualty Care, and knowledge of current medical equipment and procedures, which led to the successful life saving interventions by handlers in real world operations.

Dr. SaraRose McPeck graduated from Mississippi State College of Veterinary Medicine in 2010. A Massachusetts native who attended Becker College for her undergrad, Dr. McPeck has lived and worked around the country and even the world. She served four years in the United States Army as a Veterinary Officer, during which she was stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia, and completed a 12-month tour in Afghanistan.

Her time serving in the Army provided her the experience as the primary veterinarian for over 350 Military Working Dogs, in which she provided all emergency, trauma, surgical, critical, and primary care. In addition to caring for animals, she trained, mentored, and led six Non-Commissioned Officers and twelve junior enlisted Soldiers, giving her not only impressive veterinary experience but also exceptional interpersonal and leadership skills.

As a Veterinary Corp Officer, she received a variety of awards, including a Bronze Star, a NATO Medal, a GWOT Medal, two Army Accommodation Medals, among many others. She gained experiences in which she exemplified impressive leadership skills and the ability to adapt to both clinical and combat support situations. Her years of experience serving our country and in veterinary medicine have equipped her with the knowledge and skills to provide exceptional care to our patients.