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 .
Feline osteoarthritis: a prospective study of 28 cases.
OBJECTIVES To identify a cohort of cats with clinical osteoarthritis and to report on the clinical signs , the frequency of joints affected and the possible aetiopathogenesis within this population . METHODS Inclusion criteria for this prospect i ve study were presence of historical evidence and /or clinical signs of osteoarthritis , together with radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis . Patients showed clinical improvement within four weeks of analgesic administration and were free from other disease processes , which might explain the clinical signs and /or their response to analgesia . RESULTS Twenty-eight cases were included in the cohort . The elbow ( 45 per cent ) and the hip ( 38 per cent ) were the most frequently affected joints . Seventy-one per cent of cases had primary /idiopathic aetiology . Alterations in both the ability to jump ( 71 per cent ) and the height ( 67 per cent ) of jump ( lifestyle changes ) were the most frequent signs of disease . Sixty-one per cent of owners felt that their pet had made a marked improvement following administration of an analgesic/anti-inflammatory drug . There were statistically significant improvements in the ability to jump ( P < 0.001 ) , the height of jump ( P < 0.001 ) , lameness ( P = 0.03 ) , stiff gait ( P = 0.04 ) and the activity level ( P = 0.02 ) when compared with the start and the end of the study period . CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Osteoarthritis is a clinical problem in cats , but overt lameness is not the most common clinical feature
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 .