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 .
Evaluation of a therapeutic diet for feline degenerative joint disease.
BACKGROUND Feline degenerative joint disease ( DJD ) is common and there are no approved therapies for the alleviation of the associated pain . OBJECTIVE To test a diet high in eicosapentaenoic acid ( EPA ) , and docosahexaenoic acid ( DHA ) content and supplemented with green-lipped mussel extract and glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate ( test-diet ) for its pain-relieving and activity-enhancing effects in cats with painful , mobility-impairing DJD over a 9-week period . ANIMALS Forty client-owned cats . METHODS R and omized , controlled , blinded , parallel group , prospect i ve clinical study . Cats with no detectable systemic disease , and with at least 1 appendicular joint with radiographic evidence of DJD where manipulation elicited an aversive response were included . Cats were r and omly allocated to the test-diet or control diet ( C-diet ) . Outcome measures were subjective owner and veterinarian assessment s , and objective activity monitoring ( accelerometry ) . Nonparametric statistics were used to evaluate changes within and between groups for both subjective and objective data , and locally weighted scatterplot smoothing regression analysis was used to predict activity changes . RESULTS The primary objective outcome measures indicated that activity declined significantly ( P < .001 ) in the C-diet group , significantly increased ( P < .001 ) in the test-diet group and there was a significant difference between the groups ( P < .001 ) . CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE A diet high in EPA and DHA and supplemented with green-lipped mussel extract and glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate improved objective measures of mobility . Dietary modulation might be 1 method to use to improve mobility in cats with DJD-associated pain
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 .