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 .
Changes in thermal threshold response in eight cats after administration of buprenorphine, butorphanol and morphine
Thermal  thresholds  were measured in eight cats after the intramuscular administration of morphine ( 0.2 mg/kg ) , buprenorphine ( 0.01 mg/kg ) or butorphanol ( 0.2 mg/kg ) , doses commonly used in clinical practice ; 0.9 per cent saline ( 0.3 ml ) was injected as a control . Groups of six cats were used and each cat participated in at least two treatments , according to a r and omised design . The investigator was blinded to the treatments . The thermal thresholds were measured with a testing device developed specifically for cats , and measurements were made before and five , 30 , 45 and 60 minutes and two , four , six , 12 and 24 hours after the injections . There was no significant change in thermal threshold after the injection of saline . With butorphanol , the threshold was increased only at five minutes after the injection and was decreased two hours after the injection ; with morphine it was increased from between four and six hours after the injection , and with buprenorphine it was increased from between four and 12 hours after the injection
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 .