Comparison of the effects of epidural bupivacaine and multimodal analgesia on postoperative pain in orthopedic surgeries of hindlimb long bones in cats

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effects of epidural bupivacaine and multimodal analgesia techniques on postoperative pain in cats with hindlimb long bone fractures that underwent plate osteosynthesis. Materials and Methods: The study material consisted of 24 cats aged 1-3 years with only one fracture in any of the hindlimb long bones. These cats were randomly divided into 3 groups; the first group (GI, n=8) was determined as the epidural group, the second group (GII, n=8) as the multimodal group, and the third group (GIII, n=8) as the control group (meloxicam HCl). Clinical, radiological, and hematological data were recorded in the preoperative period to evaluate the general conditions of the patients. In order to assess pain, vital signs at the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 12th, and 24th hours were used, as well as the Feline Grimace Scale, Glasgow Pain Scale, and Visual Analog Scale. Results: When the Glasgow Composite Pain Scale scores were evaluated at the postoperative control hours, no statistically significant difference was found between the groups (p>0.05). A statistically significant difference was found between the groups at the 24th hour in the Feline Grimace Pain Scale (p<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found at the 6th hour in the Visual Analog Scale (p<0.05). Vital signs in the study were within the reference range. It was observed that there was no need for analgesics according to the Glasgow Composite Pain Scale at the 6th hour in both analgesic applications, but two patients in the epidural bupivacaine group required analgesics according to the Feline Grimace Pain Scale and Visual Analog Scale. Conclusion: When the data obtained from this study, which compared the effects of epidural bupivacaine and multimodal analgesia on postoperative pain in osteosynthesis operations causing severe pain in cats, were evaluated together, it can be said that both techniques provided adequate analgesia, but the effect of multimodal analgesia was superior at the 6th postoperative hour. Keywords: Pain, analgesia, cat, epidural, multimodal, preemptive.