From Episode 144 on the Surgery Feed. With Dr. Matt Gurney.
I loved this discussion about post-op send-home analgesia options. One commonly used option is to send home a few syringes of buprenorphine to get your patients over the hump, but Dr. Matt shared two things I didn’t know about oral Buprenorphine:
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It has very poor oral absorption in dogs due pH differences in saliva. Requires 10x higher doses compared to cats to be effective, so like 0.2mg/kg. This means big volumes, which becomes expensive.
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There’s significant anecdotal evidence that buprenorphine can cause whining, vocalising and unsettled behaviour in dogs. That means that when you give your patient ‘one last shot’ of buprenorphine before they leave the clinic, and the client calls 2 hours later asking why they’re dog won’t settle, you might have your answer!
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