The Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre (SJDAWC) has funded the following projects looking at ways to improve pain management in animals:

Improving pain control for surgery on the front legs of dogs (Dr. Kip Lemke) (on-going)
Canadian veterinarians’ use of painkillers in cattle, pigs, and horses (Dr. Caroline Hewson) (partially funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada)
Assessment of changes in Canadian veterinarians’ use of painkillers in dogs and cats between 1994 and 2001 (C Hewson,)
Postoperative pain in dogs: Preemptive management (K Lemke, C Runyon)
Postoperative pain in dogs and cats (S Dohoo, I Dohoo)

The SJDAWC has also produced 2 posters on pain management in animals, in cooperation with the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association:
Lemke KA, Hewson CJ, Crook AD. 2008. Anaesthetic and Pain Management Protocols for Healthy...

In a series of SJDAWC-funded projects from 1995-99, Dr. Gary Conboy and colleagues showed that lungworm was an important cause of chronic coughing in dogs in Atlantic Canada, and developed a diagnostic test for the condition, which can be readily treated. This test is now part of the standard workup in dogs with chronic cough, formerly most often diagnosed as due to allergies and managed (but not cured) with long-term corticosteroids.

These projects include:
The medical importance of lungworm in Island dogs (Dr. Gary Conboy et al)
Improving the diagnosis of lungworm in dogs (Dr. Gary Conboy)
Canine lungworm in the Atlantic Provinces (Dr. Gary Conboy)
French heartworm in Newfoundland (Drs. Gary Conboy and Fred Markham)

In 2001, Dr. Conboy’s team identified the first French heartworm case in a dog in Atlantic Canada (in Newfoundland) and since then...

The Canine Inherited Disorders Database is a joint initiative of the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) to produce a user-friendly source of information on inherited disorders in dogs. It is intended for dog owners whose pet has been found to have an inherited condition, potential dog owners who want help in avoiding these problems when choosing a pet, veterinarians looking for current information on both well-known and more obscure genetic disorders, including diagnostic and therapeutic information, and dog breeders who are looking for suggestions on how to avoid these conditions in their lines of dogs. For more information: www.upei.ca/~cidd/intro.htm

This program, which places veterinary students in training and counselling positions at the PEI Humane Society (PEIHS), has been in operation since 2001. The mandate of the PEIHS is to find “permanent loving homes” for the animals in its care. In the case of dogs, educating owners so that they have reasonable expectations about dog ownership, matching the right dog to the right home, and ongoing support of owners through behavioural and training issues with the dogs after adoption are extremely important.

This project has received funding for the next two years for the continuation and enhancement of the program. One AVC student trainer has been hired as the co-ordinator and is working full-time at the PEIHS during the summer. The co-ordinator will continue working on a part-time basis through the fall and winter semesters, and will be joined at that point by three other part-...