Opioids

Opioid-class medications have been used in veterinary medicine for many years and remain an important part of the arsenal that our profession can call upon to fight pain. Opioids function as effective analgesics either alone or in combination with other classes of analgesics. They are important for management of significant pain occurring in chronic conditions such as cancer or for perioperative and postoperative patients, producing patient comfort.

The following document is not intended to be a policy paper, a position statement nor a standard for legal use, but rather a brief summary of current knowledge and best practices as a potential reference for the veterinary health care team, and as a resource for further discussions.

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