Does your cat hurt?

Ear position, less interest in play or interaction, reduced activity levels and changes in movement are among the body language and behaviors that can signal pain in cats. COURTESY PHOTO

Veterinary professionals and cat lovers came together earlier this month at the EveryCat Health Foundation/North Carolina State University Feline Pain Symposium to learn about the latest in recognizing, managing and preventing pain in cats.

Cats need all the help they can get when it comes to recognizing pain, awareness of potential sources of pain, handling to prevent or reduce pain and best practices for treating and managing pain. Here’s a brief report on what top veterinary pet pain professionals shared about this complex subject.

First, how did NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine become a co-sponsor of the event? Last April, it opened the Feline Health Center, with the goal of addressing cats’ unique health and behavior needs. It’s co-directed by behavior specialist Margaret Gruen, DVM, and emergency and critical care specialist Alex Lynch, MRCVS.

Keynote speaker Duncan Lascelles, director of NCSU’s Comparative Pain Research and Education Centre, has spent his career studying the effects of pain on pets and better ways to treat it. Whenever he’s asked why it’s important to treat pet pain, his answer is simple: “It’s the right thing to do.” Want a biological reason? Pain relief speeds healing.

Behavior changes are the best way to determine the presence and progression of pain, Gruen says. Pain affects behavior in consistent ways. Instead of one huge leap, cats start to make little jumps, using furniture or other objects as aids. When they jump down, they hesitate, inching their way down a cabinet or sofa. They use a bunny hop to go up stairs. “These are really typical behaviors that shift. What’s key about them is how they change,” Gruen says. Video of feline activity at home can help you and your veterinarian catch changes before pain worsens.

Anesthesia and analgesia specialist Tamara Grubb, DVM, Ph.D., made the important point that just because cats with signs of pain are eating well doesn’t mean they’re not in pain. “Not eating is a problem. Still eating doesn’t mean anything,” she says. “They’re hiding pain and they’re eating because they want to live.” But instead of chowing down on their food, they may take all day to finish it. Note whether and how your cat’s eating habits have changed.

Another food-related tip came from licensed veterinary technician Kara Burns, who holds master’s degrees in physiology and counseling psychology and is a veterinary technician specialist in nutrition. Burns spoke on ways to manage urinary tract pain. While she believes therapeutic food is important in managing urinary tract diseases, noting that therapeutic nutrition is associated with an 89% reduction in the rate of recurrent episodes of feline interstitial cystitis, she doesn’t hesitate to say that it’s more important to feed cats what they’ll eat. Going without food is more harmful to their health than not eating a therapeutic food.

Radiation therapy is being used to reduce pain from oral tumors (common in cats), feline interstitial cystitis, orthopedic disease, inflammatory bowel disease and inflammatory rhinitis, says internal medicine and veterinary radiology specialist Tracy Gieger, DVM. External beam radiation therapy can be performed on an outpatient basis, sometimes on the same day as the initial consult, she says. Although the patient must be anesthetized, most treatments take less than 30 minutes. If your cat might benefit, ask your veterinarian or local veterinary specialty hospitals about it.

Wendy Simpson, DVM, of Morrisville Cat Hospital, gave a passionate presentation on ways to handle cats kindly and compassionately. For people who have issues pilling cats, she recommends placing bitter pills or multiple medications inside gelatin capsules so the cat must be pilled only once. “Coat pills with butter before giving, and follow with treats or canned food,” she says.

The worst thing about pain is that it fractures the human-animal bond, Grubb says. “Cats are grumpy, hiding, less friendly, but people don’t realize it’s caused by pain.” Pain can be managed, so get help for your cat. ¦

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