Chronic pain management in dogs requires recognition that pain significantly reduces quality of life and that effective treatment can dramatically improve welfare across many conditions.
Chronic pain welfare management in dogs represents one of the highest-impact welfare opportunities in companion animal medicine, given the prevalence of painful conditions including osteoarthritis and the availability of effective treatments. The welfare improvement achievable through appropriate pain management — from a dog that struggles to stand and avoids interaction to one that moves more freely and re-engages with activities and relationships — is profound. The challenge is ensuring that owners recognize chronic pain rather than attributing activity reduction to normal aging, and that veterinarians provide assertive multimodal pain management rather than minimal intervention. Technology supporting objective pain assessment and monitoring enables evidence-based treatment optimization.