09/08/2026
💢 September is Animal Pain Awareness Month 💢
More and more dogs are now receiving low-dose subcutaneous ketamine as an adjunctive analgesic for osteoarthritis (OA).
I’m seeing a few dogs in our clinic being treated this way, and it’s great to see more veterinary practices and clinicians becoming open to additional options for managing chronic pain.
It’s particularly useful to have more options available for dogs where conventional analgesia alone isn’t providing adequate pain control. 🐾
For anyone interested in pain relief and OA treatment in dogs, I thought I’d share a brief summary of some interesting new research.
🟢 New study
Nielsen MBM et al. (2026)
“A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled parallel-group pilot study evaluating the effect of low-dose subcutaneous ketamine as an adjunctive analgesic in dogs with osteoarthritis.”
Presented at the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists (AVA) Spring Meeting, Liverpool, 20–22 May 2026.
🟢 What did they do?
This was a small pilot study involving 16 client-owned dogs with confirmed OA.
• Dogs were already receiving stable conventional analgesia — NSAIDs, monoclonal antibody and/or paracetamol.
• They were randomised to either SC ketamine 0.5 mg/kg or no additional treatment.
• Ketamine was used as an adjunct, rather than replacing their existing OA medication.
• Dogs were assessed at baseline and at 7, 14 and 28 days.
• Outcomes included the Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI), pain on manipulation and passive range of motion (PROM).
🟢The results are encouraging, but definitely not yet definitive.
The investigators found a signal towards improvement in pain on manipulation and PROM, particularly during days 0–14.
However, with only 16 dogs, this was a small pilot study and wasn’t powered to provide strong evidence of clinical efficacy.
The authors therefore see this as promising preliminary evidence that warrants a larger, properly powered study, rather than definitive evidence that SC ketamine is effective for canine OA.
One particularly interesting observation was that the greatest improvement in owner-reported CBPI appeared during the first 7 days. This raises the question of whether a monthly dosing interval is actually the optimal regimen.
🟢 More research is definitely needed 🤞🏼
But it’s encouraging to see research exploring additional ways of managing chronic pain in our canine patients. ❤️🐾
