Studies were primarily related to the assessment of pain in relation to surgical procedures , and no clear distinction was made concerning the onset of acute and chronic pain .
The metrics used within the tools appeared to focus primarily on the sensory aspect of pain , with no study clearly discriminating between the sensory and affective components of pain .
Objectives The objectives were to review systematic ally the range of assessment tools used in cats to detect the behavioural expression of pain and the evidence of their quality ; and to examine behavioural metrics ( considering both the sensory and affective domains ) used to assess pain .
Postoperative analgesia in the cat after ovariohysterectomy by use of carprofen, ketoprofen, meloxicam or tolfenamic acid.
The adequacy of postoperative analgesia was assessed in 40 cats following ovariohysterectomy .  At extubation , cats were given one dose of carprofen , ketoprofen , meloxicam or tolfenamic acid . Postoperative analgesia was assessed using visual analogue scale ( VAS ) scoring for pain and sedation ; measurement of mechanical nociceptive thresholds at the wound ; recognition of the requirement for rescue intervention analgesia ; and an overall clinical assessment score at 18 hours . VAS pain scores were low throughout the trial , with no significant differences found between the groups . Postoperative mechanical nociceptive thresholds decreased significantly from baseline in all four groups , with no significant differences between the groups . One cat in each of the tolfenamic acid , ketoprofen and meloxicam groups required rescue intervention analgesia . Nine out of 10 cats in all four groups were classified as having desirable overall clinical assessment scores . In summary , all four drugs provided good postoperative analgesia , although none was able to prevent postoperative wound tenderness
Studies were primarily related to the assessment of pain in relation to surgical procedures , and no clear distinction was made concerning the onset of acute and chronic pain .
The metrics used within the tools appeared to focus primarily on the sensory aspect of pain , with no study clearly discriminating between the sensory and affective components of pain .
Objectives The objectives were to review systematic ally the range of assessment tools used in cats to detect the behavioural expression of pain and the evidence of their quality ; and to examine behavioural metrics ( considering both the sensory and affective domains ) used to assess pain .