Cats are masters of hiding pain, making pain recognition and assessment one of the most important skills for improving feline companion animal welfare.
Pain management is one of veterinary medicine's most important feline welfare challenges. The evolutionary tendency to mask pain means cats suffer silently while owners and sometimes veterinarians are unaware. Chronic pain from arthritis, dental disease, or internal conditions may persist for months or years before being recognized. Acute post-operative pain has been systematically undertreated in cats relative to dogs — studies show cats receive fewer analgesic doses after equivalent procedures. The availability of validated tools like the Feline Grimace Scale now provides objective assessment methods accessible to owners and veterinarians alike. Training owners to recognize subtle behavioral pain indicators — withdrawal from family, reduced grooming, reluctance to jump — significantly improves detection of chronic pain. Regular pain screening at veterinary visits for senior cats is essential.