Cats are masters at hiding pain. Advances in feline pain assessment tools are helping owners and vets identify and treat pain that was previously invisible.
Feline pain management has been revolutionized by the development of validated pain assessment tools and safer analgesic options. For decades, cats were undertreated for pain because their stoic behavior was misread as absence of pain rather than suppression of pain signals. The Feline Grimace Scale and the Montreal Instrument for Cat Arthritis Testing allow objective measurement of pain states. Long-acting injectable NSAIDs now available in many countries overcome the compliance challenges of daily oral medication in cats. Recognition that most cats over 6 have some degree of osteoarthritis requiring management has fundamentally changed veterinary practice and dramatically improved feline quality of life.