Pain management in dying companion animals is a welfare priority, with palliative and hospice care options now available that were not accessible a decade ago.
End-of-life pain management represents one of the most welfare-significant areas of companion animal medicine. An animal in unmanaged pain during the final weeks of its life is suffering unnecessarily when effective interventions exist. Veterinary palliative care has advanced enormously in recent years, with multimodal pain management protocols, in-home visits, and quality of life assessment tools all improving what can be offered. The barrier is often owner knowledge — many owners do not know to ask for palliative care, or do not know that options beyond waiting and euthanasia exist.