Post-operative pain management in laboratory animals has historically been inconsistent, but evidence-based protocols have improved welfare outcomes significantly in recent years.
Post-operative pain management in laboratory animals is both a welfare imperative and a scientific necessity. Untreated pain causes stress responses that alter immune function, wound healing, and behaviour - confounding the very research the procedures are intended to support. The development and validation of grimace scales has transformed the ability of research staff to identify pain in species that do not vocalise it obviously. Institutions with robust post-operative welfare protocols demonstrate both better animal welfare and better science.