Avaliação da dor aguda em suínos e da tranquilização em asininos.

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.