Veterinary pain management has advanced significantly, but evidence suggests pain in animals is still frequently undertreated. Understanding the barriers to adequate veterinary pain management helps advocates push for improvement.
Veterinary pain management has transformed considerably over the past two decades, moving from a field where animal pain was frequently dismissed or undervalued to one where multimodal analgesia is increasingly standard. However, gaps between best practice and typical practice remain. Cats present a particular challenge: their stoic pain-masking behavior means pain is easily underestimated, and their physiology limits some analgesic options. Post-operative pain management has improved, but chronic pain assessment and management — particularly for arthritis in senior animals — remains inconsistently implemented. The barriers include knowledge gaps among some practitioners, cost constraints that limit diagnostic and drug options, and owner difficulty in recognizing chronic pain in their animals. Welfare-motivated veterinary practice improvement and owner education are both needed.