Pain management in companion animals has advanced significantly, with new drug classes, monitoring tools, and multimodal approaches improving welfare for dogs and cats in pain.
Pain management advances offer transformative welfare improvements for companion animals with chronic conditions. The development of anti-nerve growth factor monoclonal antibodies for osteoarthritis provides effective, long-acting pain relief with fewer gastrointestinal side effects than NSAIDs. In cats, these treatments offer pain relief for a species that cannot safely take most NSAIDs long-term. The bottleneck is owner recognition of pain - animals hide pain instinctively, and most owners do not recognize subtle signs of chronic discomfort in their pets.