Chronic pain in cats — particularly from arthritis, dental disease, and cancer — requires multimodal management approaches that combine pharmaceutical, environmental, and physical therapy interventions for optimal welfare outcomes.
Feline pain management is complicated by the limited pharmacological options available due to unique feline metabolic pathways and the need to avoid drugs that cause toxicity. However, the pharmaceutical toolkit for cats has expanded considerably in recent years, with monoclonal antibody therapies offering monthly dosing without the gastrointestinal and renal risks of daily NSAIDs. The multimodal approach — combining targeted medication with environmental adaptation, physical therapy, and weight management — achieves better pain control than single-drug approaches. The key welfare challenge is detection: cats hide pain effectively, and many painful cats are not identified as such by owners. Validated feline pain assessment tools including the Feline Grimace Scale are now available to guide welfare assessment and treatment monitoring.