Chronic pain in cats is vastly underdiagnosed due to their behavioral masking of discomfort. New assessment tools and treatment advances are transforming the ability to identify and manage feline chronic pain.
Chronic pain in cats is one of the most significant and hidden welfare problems in companion animal medicine. The evolutionary heritage of cats as solitary hunters that cannot afford to display vulnerability has created a behavioral masking system so effective that owners regularly live with cats experiencing significant chronic pain without recognizing the signs. Unlike dogs, who may vocalize or show obvious lameness, cats with chronic osteoarthritis typically present with subtle behavioral changes — a gradual reduction in jumping height, less enthusiasm for play, decreased time spent grooming the back end, or altered social behavior — that owners and even veterinarians attribute to normal aging rather than treatable pain. The consequence is years of unrecognized and untreated chronic pain for a large proportion of older cats. Advances in both assessment tools and treatment options have transformed what is achievable: validated pain assessment scales, novel pharmacological options with better feline safety profiles, and new injectable biologics targeting pain signaling pathways all provide improved management capacity. The barrier remains recognition: teaching owners the subtle behavioral signs of feline chronic pain is the highest-impact welfare intervention.