Veterinary pain management has advanced enormously in knowledge but implementation remains inconsistent, with many animals receiving inadequate analgesia during and after procedures.
The gap between what veterinary pain management can achieve and what animals routinely receive represents one of the most significant addressable welfare problems in companion animal medicine. Pain is the primary welfare cost of veterinary procedures — not the procedures themselves, but the untreated pain that follows them. Veterinarians and veterinary nurses who consistently apply multimodal pain protocols, use validated pain assessment tools, and treat pain as a primary welfare priority rather than an afterthought provide dramatically better welfare outcomes for their patients. Professional education, institutional protocols, and client expectations all drive the standard of care animals receive.