Authors: Aneesa Malik, MSc, RVN, Cert VNES, Cert VNECC, APVN (Zoo) Aneesa has worked in a range of veterinary practices, including first opinion, charity,
emergency, referral, exotics, and with some species of British wildlife. She is a Fear Free accredited practitioner and is particularly interested in veterinary ethics and welfare. Aneesa’s primary focus areas are animal pain and the care of emergency and critical patients, wildlife and exotic patients, and end-of-life patients.
Sofia Saraiva, DVM, MSc, MRCVS Sofia qualified from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, in 2014. Sofia worked as a small animal/exotic veterinary surgeon in Portugal, Dubai and the UK before completing a 1-year internship at Great Western Exotics. She is currently working towards her zoological medicine certificate with the University of Edinburgh while working as an exotic veterinary surgeon at Rutland House Referrals in Liverpool.
Abstract: This is the last in a series of three articles that review the assessment and management of pain in ferrets, with examples of chronic pain conditions that affect the species. The article describes some of the non-pharmaceutical techniques used to manage and treat chronic pain in ferrets, including rehabilitation, environmental modification, supplementation and convalescent diets, physiotherapy, acupuncture, photobiomodulation, laser acupuncture and hydrotherapy. A multimodal approach using both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions is advisable. The article includes a case study of a multimodal approach to the management of pain in a 6-month-old male ferret. The ferret was diagnosed with capital physeal dysplasia (dysplasia of the proximal growth plate of the femur) and underwent a bilateral femoral head and neck excision. He required pain management and rehabilitation over several months. The case study highlights the difficulties in assessing pain in ferrets. It also shows that rehabilitation is an essential part of post-surgery pain management and wellbeing. The article also briefly focuses on the importance of regular veterinary health checks, discusses pain management in relation to end-of-life care and considers the specialist pain management requirements of amputation patients.
Keywords: ferret, pain, chronic pain management, rehabilitation, femoral head and neck excision
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56496/MROY3614
To cite this article: Malik, A. and Saraiva, S. (2025) Pain in ferrets: a review for veterinary nurses Part 3 Chronic pain management. VNJ 40 (02) pp30-43.
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