Chronic pain in cats — particularly from osteoarthritis — is vastly underdiagnosed because cats hide pain effectively, leaving millions of animals suffering without treatment.
Chronic pain in cats is a silent welfare crisis affecting millions of senior animals. The combination of effective pain masking, owner unawareness, and veterinary under-diagnosis means that most cats with significant osteoarthritis live with untreated pain throughout their later years. Behavioral changes — reduced activity, reluctance to jump, altered grooming, and irritability when touched — are the primary indicators, but owners frequently attribute these to "just getting old." The Feline Grimace Scale (orbital tightening, nose and cheek flattening, ear position changes, whisker position) provides a validated tool that enables non-specialist assessment of pain intensity. Effective analgesic options exist; the barrier is recognition.