Veterinary pain management has advanced significantly in the past decade with new drug classes, delivery methods, and multimodal protocols that improve welfare for companion animals with acute and chronic pain.
Companion animal pain management advances represent some of the most significant recent welfare improvements in veterinary medicine. The anti-NGF antibodies for osteoarthritis are transformative: monthly injections providing sustained pain control with a safety profile that enables long-term use, addressing one of the most prevalent chronic welfare problems in older pets. For cats in particular, where chronic pain management has been hampered by the species's intolerance of common NSAIDs, these new options dramatically expand the therapeutic toolkit. The welfare opportunity is substantial - millions of cats and dogs with inadequately managed chronic pain can achieve better quality of life with these treatments. The remaining challenge is awareness: many owners and some veterinarians are not yet fully utilizing these options.