ARAÚJO, A. L.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0086633626245397; ARAÚJO, Ana Lucélia de.
Abstract:
This thesis consists of three chapters which address the theme of well-being and
anesthetic management of production animals. Each one of the chapters is presented by
a scientific article. In the first chapter it was aimed to assess the behavior of piglets
submitted to acute post-surgical pain stimulus. Orchiectomies were performed in 40
piglets and their behavior was monitored in four moments: prior to the surgical
procedure (M0), four hours after the surgery (M1), three hours post rescue analgesia
(M2) and 24 hours after the orchiectomy (M3). The agonic interactions occurred with
predominance in the M1 and M3, in those, the longer lasting behaviors were laying
down apart (26.6%) and laying down in an uncomfortable manner (22%). Such findings
demonstrate that swine alter their behavior faced with a stressor pain stimulus implying
in malaise. The second chapter deals with the construction, validation and reliability of
a scale to measure acute pain in 46 swine submitted to orchiectomy, performed under
local anesthesia. The analyses were carried out by means of filming before and after the
surgery. The scale was compiled according to previous studies and with the analysis of
the film. 30-minute (min) videos were registered, totalling 138 hours. The videos were
edited and analyzed by four assessors, one gold-standard and three observers. A
unidimensional scale was adopted. After the refinement, the Cronbach's alpha
coefficient was of 0.82. The correlation was elevated between the studied scale and the
visual analogic scale, numerical scale and the simple descriptive (p = 0,000). The
increase and decrease of the pain scores after the surgery and the analgesic intervention,
confirmed the construction validity and the responsiveness, respectively (p < 0.001).
The inter and intra-observer reliability varied from de moderate to good. The optimal
cut-off point for the rescue analgesia was > 4, and the maximum score was 18. On this
basis, it is considered that the scale is valid, reliable and responsive, with excellent
internal consistency and discriminatory capacity. The third chapter aimed to assess the
effects of acepromazine isolated or associated to diazepam in five asinine. The animals
were submitted to two anesthetic protocols: acepromazine group (AC) and
acepromazine-diazepam (ACD). The physiological parameters were measured; electrocardiographic variables were analyzed and correlated to the tranquilization. The
tranquilization started at 10.4±0.9 min in the asinine of the AC and at 4.8±1.1 in the
ACD. Penile prolapse occurred at 4.2±1.3min in the AC and at 2.7±0.4 in the ACD. The
heart rate rose at 15 and 30 min in the AC, and the respiratory rate decreased in the AC
from 60 min and in the ACD from 30 min. There was a significant reduction of the
snout-soil distance in both groups and in the moments from 15 min. With this, it is
possible to state that the acepromazine promotes a discreet tranquilization, which is
enhanced by the diazepam. The whole work aims to demonstrate the importance of the
use of resources to soothe the pain of production animals.