Feline Pain Scale

Sometimes our kitties seem to be “off” without us really knowing why. Could it be pain?

Cats are very good at hiding pain but situations where you might expect they are experiencing pain include conditions such as pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, etc.; injuries; dental procedures; as a result of surgical or other procedures.

How do we judge pain? Thankfully, three validated pain scales have been developed to assist the caregiver in determining if the kitty is experiencing pain. Those three scales are:

• Feline Grimace Scale
  • Feline Grimace Scale Fact Sheet
  • Training Manual for the Feline Grimace Scale
• Glasgow Pain Scale
• UNESP-Botucatu Multidimensional Composite Pain Scale for assessing post operative pain

Two very important things to keep in mind include:

• it might be necessary to use more than one of the above methods in combination in order to assess pain
• identifying and treating pain should be done in conjunction with your veterinarian.

Thank you to Amy, Tomlin’s caregiver, for providing this very important information to share.