Development of the Facial Expression Pain Scale (FEPS) for donkeys

Abstract

Over the past few years, there has been an increasing interest in pain recognition in animals. Change in the behaviour due to pain can be measured by a pain scale. Van Loon and Van Dierendonck have composed the FEPS for pain assessment in horses; the Facial Expression Pain Scale. With this pain scale, pain is recognized on the basis of facial expressions. This study focuses on pain recognition in donkeys. The main goal of this study is to investigate the normal behaviour and corresponding facial expression in donkeys to develop a proper reference framework. It is important to understand the normal behavioural expressions to recognize abnormal expressions. Further research needs to be done with donkeys in pain to develop a final Facial Expression Pain Scale for donkeys. Because small changes in the behaviour of donkeys may indicate severe illness, knowledge about the normal behavioural expressions in donkeys is of great importance. This study contains a literature study and a practical research. Four veterinarians who have experience with diagnosing and treating donkey patients and who have performed research in donkeys and their behaviour and expression have been interviewed. There were two days of observation at ‘Stichting de Ezelsociëteit’. This was done to get a better impression of the normal facial expression of donkeys, their normal behaviour and responses to stimuli. After these interviews and the first 2 days of observations, 59 healthy and pain free donkeys were observed, during this study, coming from 4 different places. One male donkey has been observed before and after surgical castration. The FEPS for donkeys consists of 12 parameters and the rating scale has a range between 0 and 24. This means that the higher the score, the more pain the animal suffers from. The average pain score of all 59 donkeys from the control group is 2,1 out of 24 points. The standard deviation is 1,74. No significant difference between observer 1 and observer 2 (P = 0,12) was found. The correlation coefficient between observer 1 and observer 2 is 0,33. In conclusion, a facial expression pain scale is developed for donkeys. The FEPS for donkeys requires a few adjustments and then a follow-up study is needed for pain assessment in donkeys with acute pain.