Feline pain assessment and scoring systems

Pain assessment in animals is challenging, because as non-verbal patients, animals are dependent on veterinary professionals to identify their pain. Managing pain in surgical patients is an integral part of patient care, and unmanaged pain can have a detrimental effect on recovery and wellbeing (Cambridge et al, 2000; Hellyer et al, 2007). Although surgical procedures in dogs and cats are considered to be equally painful, cats have historically received analgesia less often in the post-operative period (Lascelles et al, 1999). One of the main reasons for the disparity in treatment between species is the difficulty in recognising and assessing pain in cats (Capner et al, 1999).

Lascelles et al (1999) found that 71% of veterinary surgeons delegated the task of post-operative monitoring to veterinary nurses, but 68% of them felt nurses had insufficient knowledge of pain and analgesia. In another study, 96% of veterinary nurses also felt their knowledge of pain management could be improved. Most agreed that a pain scoring system was a useful clinical tool, yet only 8.1% of the practices in this study were using a formal pain scoring system (Coleman et al, 2007). It is clear that veterinary nurses have a significant role to play in identifying acute pain in surgical patients and are integral for effective pain management.