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 client-specific outcome measures and activity monitoring to measure pain relief in cats with osteoarthritis.
BACKGROUND There are no vali date d systems for measuring pain from osteoarthritis in cats . HYPOTHESIS Owner subjective assessment s and an activity monitor ( AM ) can be used to detect pain in cats with osteoarthritis and to assess efficacy of treatments . ANIMALS Thirteen cats older than 10 years old , with owner-assessed decreases in activity , painful arthritic joints , and clinical ly normal blood work were included and evaluated for 3 weeks . METHODS A collar-mounted AM measured activity and a client-specific outcome measure ( CSOM ) question naire characterized the severity of impairment . Overall global quality of life was also evaluated for each treatment . In weeks 2 and 3 , meloxicam ( 0.1 mg/kg , day 1 ; 0.05 mg/kg , days 2 - 5 ) or a placebo was administered in a blinded , r and omized , cross-over manner to test the assessment systems . RESULTS The cats had a median of 4 arthritic appendicular joints .  Activity counts for the week when cats ( complete data on activity ; n=9 ) were administered meloxicam were significantly higher than at baseline ( P = .02 ) but not after placebo ( P = .06 ) . Baseline activity counts were not significantly different from placebo ( P = .6 ) . The CSOM data ( n=13 ) showed that owners considered their cats to be more active on meloxicam compared with baseline ( P = .001 ) and placebo ( P < .004 ) , and more active on placebo than at baseline ( P < .01 ) . Global quality of life improved significantly with meloxicam ( P < .042 ) . CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Both an AM and a CSOM system can detect behavior associated with pain relief in cats that are arthritic . Objective activity data might allow subjective assessment systems to be vali date d for use in clinical studies
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 .