Use of a new finger-mounted device to compare mechanical nociceptive thresholds in cats given pethidine or no medication after castration

Mechanical nociceptive thresholds are regularly used to determine the effic acy of analgesic agents both experimentally and clinically in a variety of species. The 'pressure of palpation device' (PPD) was developed for use in cats and is a small battery operated device with a finger-mounted force sen sing resistor (FSR, Interlink (TM) Electronics, Northumberland. UK). The PP D was used in a study assessing the analgesic efficacy of pethidine after c astration in cats. Pethidine was demonstrated to prevent the development of post-operative scrotal hypersensitivity for up to 2 hours after castration , whereas cats given no analgesics showed marked hyperalgesia immediately a fter surgery. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain scores after castration show ed a similar analgesic effect of pethidine. These results suggest that the PPD could become a useful research tool to assess the effectiveness of anal gesic agents in the cat. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.