pain in cats

The Feline Grimace Scale: New Tool To Evaluate Pain in Cats

Feline Health| 8 Comments

feline-facial-expressions

Cats are masters at masking pain. Their ability to hide pain goes back to their wild origins. In the wild, a sick animal becomes prey. While acute pain may be more obvious, chronic pain from conditions such as arthritis can be challenging to discern for even the most dedicated cat parent. Even veterinarians often overlook signs of feline pain.Continue Reading

About the author

How to Know Whether Your Cat is in Pain

Feline Health| 6 Comments

cat-in-pain

Cats are masters at masking pain. This ability to hide pain goes back to their wild origins; in the wild, a sick animal becomes prey. While acute pain may be fairly obvious to cat guardians, it may be more difficult to discern whether your cat is in pain when it comes to chronic pain from conditions such as arthritis. Sadly, even some veterinarians still overlook signs of feline pain, or are not aggressive enough in treating it.Continue Reading

About the author

Pain Management for Cats is Not Optional

Feline Health| 6 Comments

pain-management-for-cats

Cats are masters at masking pain. This ability to hide pain goes back to their wild origins; in the wild, a sick animal becomes prey. While acute pain may be fairly obvious to cat guardians, it may be more difficult to discern whether your cat is in pain when it comes to chronic pain from conditions such as arthritis. Sadly, many veterinarians still overlook signs of feline pain, or are not aggressive enough in treating it.Continue Reading

About the author

The Assisi Loop: Safe Pain Relief for Cats

Feline Health| 16 Comments

Assisi_Loop_Lil_BUB

When your cat is in pain, there’s probably nothing you wouldn’t try to get him or her feeling better. However, treating pain in cats is often a paradox; it’s hard enough to tell when a cat is in pain in the first place. Once pain is diagnosed, there are very few medications approved for long-term use in cats due to cats’ delicate internal organs, which can easily be damaged by even small doses of medication.

As an alternative to pharmaceuticals, many cat owners have turned to non-drug modalitiesContinue Reading

About the author

Declawing Cats: Inhumane and Unneccesary

Feline Health| 80 Comments

declawing_cats

Declawing is a topic that can elicit strong emotions, with most people coming down on the side of opposing it. Declawing is considered either illegal or inhumane in 25 countries around the world, including England, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Finland and Brazil. The United States lacks sadly behind in establishing legislation to make declawing illegal, but thankfully, more and more cat lovers, cat welfare organizations and veterinarians are speaking out against declawing, calling it inhumane and unnecessary.

Declawing is extremely painful

Declawing is not just nail trimming. The declaw surgery involves amputating the last bone of the cat’s toes. Continue Reading

About the author

New tools to manage feline pain

Feline Health| 12 Comments

cat_in_window

Cats are masters at not showing pain. This instinct to hide pain is a legacy of their wild origins. In the wild, an animal that appears to be sick or disabled is vulnerable to attack from predators, and survival instinct dictates to act as if  nothing is wrong, even when something most definitely is.

This presents a challenge for cat guardians trying to assess whether their cats are experiencing acute, or even chronic, pain. Often, subtle behavior changes are the only clue that something is wrong. Look for the following:

About the author