Background: Effective perioperative pain management is essential in canine orthopaedic surgery to promote early recovery, improve animal welfare and minimize postoperative complications. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely employed for perioperative analgesia; however, comparative analgesic evaluation of their efficacy in canine orthopaedic cases remains important. 
 
Methods: The present study was conducted on canine cases (n=18) presented for surgical management of long bone fractures (femur/humerus). The animals were randomly divided into three groups (n=6 each) based on analgesic protocols: Meloxicam (0.2 mg/kg IM OD), carprofen (4 mg/kg SC OD) and tolfenamic acid (4 mg/kg IM OD). All animals were subjected to intramedullary pinning under a standardized anaesthetic regimen comprising atropine, dexmedetomidine, butorphanol and ketamine. Pre-emptive analgesics were administered and continued once daily for five days postoperatively. Pain was assessed using University of Melbourne Pain Scale (UMPS), comprising of both physiological and behavioural parameters on 0, 1, 3 and 5 post-operative days. 
 
Result: All treatment groups exhibited significant (p&lt;0.05) reduction in postoperative pain scores, indicating effective analgesia. Carprofen and Meoxicam treated animals consistently demonstrated lower physiological, behavioural and overall UMPS scores upto 3rd&nbsp;day postoperatively. However, Carprofen provided excellent pain control till complete recovery. In contrast, tolfenamic acid exhibited comparatively higher pain scores and less sustained analgesic efficacy till perfect healing. Behavioural parameters improved progressively in all groups with earlier normalization observed in the carprofen-treated animals. It was inferred that all three NSAIDs effectively reduced postoperative pain in canine orthopaedic cases; however, carprofen proved superior with sustained analgesic efficacy.

Comparative Analgesic Efficacy of Meloxicam, Carprofen and Tolfenamic Acid for Perioperative Pain Management in Canine Orthopaedic Cases