Post-operative pain in cats is frequently undertreated due to conservative analgesia approaches and feline stoicism, causing unnecessary suffering after procedures that could be managed effectively.
Postoperative cats that are not adequately analgesed experience unnecessary pain from procedures that are performed to benefit them. A cat recovering from a fractured leg repair, dental surgery, or spay while in pain shows it through facial grimacing, hunched posture, reduced interaction, and decreased grooming - signs that owners and even veterinary staff may miss. The conservative tradition of cat analgesia has historical roots in legitimate safety concerns about drug metabolism, but modern multimodal approaches allow effective pain management within those constraints. Undertreated surgical pain is a welfare failure with ready solutions.