Pain Management: Common Analgesic Groups

Pain Management: Common Analgesic Groups ✨

Pain management is a huge part of veterinary nursing.

Whether a patient is recovering from surgery, has suffered trauma, is hospitalised, or is living with chronic pain, analgesia plays a key role in keeping them comfortable and supporting recovery.

There are lots of different analgesic drugs, but it becomes much easier when you understand the main groups and what they are commonly used for.

✨ Opioids

Opioids are commonly used for moderate to severe pain.

They may be used for:

  • Surgical pain
  • Trauma
  • Hospitalised patients
  • Severe acute pain
  • Pre-operative pain control

Examples include:

  • Methadone
  • Buprenorphine

Opioids act on opioid receptors and many are controlled drugs, meaning they must be handled, stored and recorded correctly according to practice protocol and current legislation.

For veterinary nurses, this means careful documentation, correct storage, and always following veterinary direction.

✨ NSAIDs

NSAIDs are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

They help reduce both:

  • Pain
  • Inflammation

They may be used for:

  • Post-operative pain
  • Musculoskeletal pain
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Soft tissue pain
  • Dental pain

Examples include:

  • Meloxicam
  • Carprofen
  • Robenacoxib

NSAIDs need to be used carefully in some patients, especially if there are concerns such as:

  • Dehydration
  • Kidney disease
  • Gastrointestinal disease
  • Certain concurrent medications

This is why patient assessment, hydration status, history and veterinary checks matter before administration.

✨ Local Anaesthetics

Local anaesthetics block pain signals in a specific area.

They may be used for:

  • Local blocks
  • Dental blocks
  • Wound infiltration
  • Epidurals
  • Splash blocks
  • Regional anaesthesia

Examples include:

  • Lidocaine
  • Bupivacaine

Local anaesthetics are useful because they help reduce pain at the source. They can also reduce the amount of general analgesia required, depending on the procedure and patient.

✨ Alpha-2 Agonists

Alpha-2 agonists can provide both:

  • Sedation
  • Analgesia

They may be used as part of sedation or anaesthetic protocols.

Examples include:

  • Medetomidine
  • Dexmedetomidine

These drugs can affect the cardiovascular system, so patients require appropriate monitoring. This may include heart rate, pulse quality, mucous membrane colour, blood pressure and overall anaesthetic depth where relevant.

✨ Ketamine

Ketamine is an anaesthetic drug, but it may also be used as part of pain management in some cases.

It can be useful where there are concerns about:

  • Wind-up
  • Central sensitisation
  • Severe or complex pain

Its use depends on veterinary direction and practice protocol.

A simple way to think about ketamine is that it is not just an induction agent — in some patients, it can also form part of a multimodal analgesia plan.

✨ Gabapentin

Gabapentin may be used for some types of pain, especially:

  • Neuropathic pain
  • Chronic pain

It may also be used in some patients to help reduce stress associated with handling, travel or veterinary visits, depending on veterinary direction.

It is not usually a “one size fits all” pain relief option, but it can be useful in selected patients as part of a wider plan.

✨ Controlled Drugs

Some analgesic drugs are controlled drugs.

This means they have strict legal requirements around:

  • Storage
  • Recording
  • Handling
  • Administration
  • Disposal
  • Stock checks

Controlled drugs must always be managed according to practice policy and current legislation.

Veterinary nurses may be involved in handling and administering these drugs, but this must always be done under veterinary direction and following practice protocol.

✨ Why multimodal analgesia matters

Pain is not always managed with just one drug.

Multimodal analgesia means using different types of analgesia together to target pain in different ways.

For example, a patient may receive:

  • An opioid for stronger pain relief
  • An NSAID to reduce inflammation
  • A local block to numb the surgical area

This can improve pain control and may reduce reliance on any one drug group.

The exact plan will always depend on the patient, the procedure, their health status and the veterinary surgeon’s direction.

✨ Key takeaways

  • Opioids are commonly used for moderate to severe pain
  • NSAIDs reduce pain and inflammation
  • Local anaesthetics block pain at the source
  • Alpha-2 agonists can provide sedation and analgesia
  • Ketamine may help with certain complex pain states
  • Gabapentin may be useful for neuropathic or chronic pain
  • Controlled drugs have strict legal handling requirements
  • Analgesia should always be tailored to the individual patient

✨ Want to learn about pain in a simpler way? ✨

If you’re studying veterinary pain/analgesia and want everything broken down into clear, student-friendly sections, my Pain + Analgesia Guide goes through the key groups + pain scoring in a simple, visual way.

It’s designed to help student veterinary nurses understand the basics without feeling overwhelmed — perfect for revision, placement support or building confidence with pain/analgesia topics.

You can find the guide here:

Thank you, Jade x 

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