Inflammatory pain from arthritis, dental disease, and chronic illness is common in cats but systematically underrecognized and undertreated due to feline pain concealment behavior.
Feline inflammatory pain represents one of the largest treatment gaps in companion animal medicine. The scale of unrecognized and untreated chronic pain in aging cats is difficult to quantify precisely because cats hide it so effectively, but given the prevalence of osteoarthritis, dental disease, and chronic illness in the senior cat population, significant unaddressed pain is almost certainly common. Owners who notice their cat is sleeping more, jumping less, grooming differently, or interacting less actively are often observing pain-driven behavioral changes that are normalized as aging. Veterinarians trained in validated feline pain assessment tools can detect what owners miss during examinations. The recent approval of feline-specific anti-NGF antibody treatments offers new options for cats who cannot tolerate NSAIDs.