Feline osteosarcoma is rarer than in dogs but causes significant pain requiring aggressive management and honest prognosis discussion.
Osteosarcoma causes extreme bone pain from tumor invasion and pathological fracture risk. Dogs and cats with bone tumors are often not recognized as being in severe pain because they compensate behaviorally. Adequate pain management including opioids before surgery and comprehensive multimodal analgesia post-operatively is a welfare imperative. Amputation provides dramatic pain relief and should be considered promptly when osteosarcoma is diagnosed rather than waiting for further deterioration.