Recognising pain in companion animals is one of the most important skills an owner can develop. Animals evolved to hide pain as a survival strategy, meaning obvious signals are often absent even in severe chronic pain conditions.
Pain is one of the most welfare-relevant experiences animals can have, and its recognition is fundamental to appropriate care. The mismatch between human expectations of obvious pain signals and the subtle, masked nature of animal pain in many species means that suffering frequently goes unrecognised. Educational efforts to teach owners normal baselines and validated assessment methods can transform pain recognition and treatment across the companion animal population.