Table 1.
Behavioural, physiological, and physical pain assessment techniques.
| Category | Assessment | Non-Invasive | Easy Training | High Cost | Special Equipment | Time Required >5 min | Spontaneous | Publications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behaviour | Ethogram | Y | N | N | N | Y | Y | [4,5,7,15,17,18,21,52,63,66,78,86,87,91,92,93] |
| Nesting | Y | Y | N | N | Y | N | [3,15,18,51,52] | |
| Burrowing | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | [3,15,18,54,55] | |
| Vocalisation | Y | Y | Y | Y/N * | Y | Y | [4,5,8,17,21,45,66,68,81,88,93,94] | |
| Grooming | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | [3,4,5,8,15,17,18,21,52,66] | |
| Real-time Grimace Score | Y | Y | N | N | N | Y | [37,54,55,70,85,92,95,96] | |
| Physiological | Heart Rate or Respiratory Rate | N | Y | N | Y | N | Y | [3,4,5,15,17,21,66,93] |
| Biochemical marker | N | N | Y | Y | Y | N | [3,4,15,17,21,93] | |
| Physical | Weight loss or failure to gain weight | Y | N | N | Y | N | N | [3,5,8,15,17,21,64,66] |
| Reduction in production ** | Y | N | N | Y/N *** | Y | N | [21,66,84] | |
| Lameness | Y | Y/N **** | Y | N | N | Y | [3,5,15,17,21,37,66,82,85,93] | |
| Postural change | Y | N | Y | N | N | Y | [3,4,5,9,15,17,58,83,93] |
* Ultrasonic vocalization monitoring requires special equipment; ** e.g., Egg or Milk; *** Eggs can easily be counted; **** Obvious signs of lameness are easy to train but more subtle lameness may be more difficult.