Monitoring Acute Pain in Donkeys with the Equine Utrecht University Scale for Donkeys Composite Pain Assessment (EQUUS-DONKEY-COMPASS) and the Equine Utrecht University Scale for Donkey Facial Assessment of Pain (EQUUS-DONKEY-FAP).
Authors: van Dierendonck Machteld C, Burden Faith A, Rickards Karen, van Loon Johannes P A M
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Pain Assessment Tools for Donkeys Donkeys' reputation for stoicism has historically masked their pain experience, making objective assessment challenging in clinical practice. Researchers developed and validated two novel pain scales—EQUUS-DONKEY-COMPASS (a composite behavioural assessment) and EQUUS-DONKEY-FAP (a facial expression-based tool)—testing them across 264 donkeys including those with colic, orthopaedic pain, head-related pain, postoperative pain, and healthy controls. Both scales demonstrated excellent reliability between observers and clearly differentiated painful from non-painful animals (p < 0.001), though their diagnostic strength varied by pain type: the COMPASS scale excelled at detecting colic and orthopaedic pain (83% and 88% sensitivity respectively), whilst the FAP scale performed better for head pain (78% sensitivity), and both showed consistently high specificity (91–99%) across all pain types. These tools offer equine professionals practical, evidence-based alternatives for recognising pain in donkeys, potentially improving welfare by circumventing the species' characteristically muted pain expression, though clinicians should consider which scale best suits their specific presentation rather than relying on a single assessment method.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Use EQUUS-DONKEY-COMPASS preferentially for assessing colic and orthopaedic pain in donkeys; use EQUUS-DONKEY-FAP for colic and head-related pain detection
- •Both scales show excellent specificity (91-99%), meaning positive results are reliable indicators of pain, though sensitivity varies by pain type
- •Donkey stoicism requires systematic pain assessment tools rather than subjective observation; these validated scales improve welfare monitoring and treatment decisions
Key Findings
- •EQUUS-DONKEY-COMPASS and EQUUS-DONKEY-FAP scales showed significant differences between donkeys with acute pain and controls (p < 0.001)
- •Both scales demonstrated high inter-observer reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.97 and 0.94 respectively)
- •EQUUS-DONKEY-COMPASS sensitivity was 83-88% for colic and orthopaedic pain but only 17-21% for head and postoperative pain
- •EQUUS-DONKEY-FAP sensitivity was 75-78% for colic and head-related pain, with specificity 91-99% across all pain types