Seeing your pet in obvious distress is heartbreaking, but did you know that cats and dogs often show subtle signs of pain that are difficult to detect? Many pet owners do not know the many pain signals pets display, or chalk it up to simple old age changes, which can leave pets suffering silently for extended periods without relief. Brush up on your pain-detection skills to avoid letting your furry pal hurt unnecessarily by learning from the following scenarios. 

Pets and pain

To help highlight pets’ skills at hiding discomfort, including from their owners, we’ve created several painful-pet scenarios we commonly see here at Caldwell Animal Hospital. 

  • Rosie the retriever and her ruptured cranial cruciate ligament

An active Labrador, Rosie did not know the meaning of “stop” or “slow down.” She spent her days chasing sticks, squirrels, and anything that moved, attempting to mimic the twists and turns of falling leaves or swift birds. All this exercise kept Rosie slim and trim, but couldn’t prevent a painful injury that is also common in human athletes—a cranial cruciate ligament rupture, or ACL tear in the human world. With a sharp yelp and an abrupt shift into a three-legged dog, Rosie was in obvious pain after her latest sudden zig-zag pattern. By the time Rosie’s owners coaxed her back into the house, she was attempting to put weight on her injured leg, and was no longer crying in pain. Encouraging their pooch to lie down, her family felt her injured leg for a break, but Rosie let out no yips of discomfort to indicate any particular sore spot. By the time Rosie’s Monday appointment rolled around, she was beginning to hobble along on her injured leg, but showed no other pain indicators.

  • Percy the Persian and his idiopathic cystitis

Percy the Persian was a young kitty with an old soul. Already set in his ways, he was rather miffed when his family decided he needed a young playmate and brought home—of all creatures—a puppy. Highly dissatisfied at such an invasion of his privacy and disturbance to his extended cat naps, Percy began urinating outside the litter box. Unable to handle the urine-soaked bathroom rug, clean laundry, and blankets, Percy’s owners scheduled a behavior consult with the Caldwell Animal Hospital team, because they suspected a case of jealousy and spite.

  • Archie the Yorkie and his severe dental disease

Archie the elderly Yorkie was known for his voracious appetite. Inherited from his current owner’s grandmother, Archie was spoiled rotten, and ate only from her plate. Now in his new home, he was refusing to eat crunchy kibble, but would shamelessly beg for mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese. Worried because Archie continued to refuse to eat nutritionally balanced food, his new owner scheduled a veterinary visit to discuss tips and tricks on coercing the spoiled pooch into eating food specifically formulated for Yorkshire terriers.

Pain management for pets

During the health and history evaluations of these pets, our veterinarians discovered that each pet’s issues were rooted in pain. To help these pets return to their normal happy and healthy ways, our team devised customized pain management plans. 

  • Rosie’s pain management plan — Although Rosie did not whimper or whine during her orthopedic exam of her injured leg, her decreased appetite, inactivity, and still-present lameness clearly showed she was uncomfortable. Her X-rays showed she had fully torn her cranial cruciate ligament, and required surgical repair. Fortunately, Dr. Rivero is skilled in orthopedic surgeries, and Rosie did not require referral to a specialty hospital. During her post-operative recovery, she participated in laser therapy and careful physical rehabilitation exercises to gain full use of her leg again.
  • Percy’s pain management plan — While Percy was upset at the latest furry addition to his household, he was not inappropriately urinating out of spite. Instead, he suffered from a condition called feline idiopathic cystitis, which is most commonly caused by environmental stressors, such as adding a rambunctious puppy to the mix. Many cat owners believe their pets are suffering from urinary tract infections or acting out because of a perceived slight, but urinary tract infections are relatively uncommon in young, healthy cats, and the signs associated with both urinary conditions appear similar. If a cat experiences stress in any form—bullying from other cats, the addition of new pets, a change in routine, or rearranging the furniture—they are prone to painful bladder inflammation. To help Percy out, we instituted a laser therapy regimen to reduce inflammation, prescribed a stress-relieving diet and a short course of anti-inflammatory medication, and recommended calming pheromones. Percy also received a cat-only retreat stocked with food, water, litter box, and resting areas in his home, to allow him to relax away from the pesky pup.
  • Archie’s pain management plan — Archie was indeed a pampered pooch, but his finicky appetite did not manifest solely through his previous owner’s feeding habits. During Archie’s exam, Dr. Sulik was shocked at his severe dental disease. While Archie’s previous owner loved him dearly, she neglected his routine veterinary care, and his oral health suffered. Archie had developed a tooth-root abscess on each carnassial tooth, the large upper fourth premolar. To remove the infection and diseased teeth, Archie required a comprehensive oral assessment under anesthesia, including dental X-rays, and an intensive treatment plan consisting of scaling, polishing, and extraction of the damaged teeth. We knew this procedure would be painful for Archie, although nowhere as uncomfortable as living with a diseased mouth, so we created a multi-modal pain management plan of local anesthesia blocks at the extraction sites, injectable pain medication, anti-inflammatory medication for home use, and laser therapy to minimize swelling and speed healing. 

Pets display discomfort in a variety of ways, many difficult for pet owners to detect. If your furry pal shows behavior changes or variances from their usual routine, they may be suffering silently from a painful condition. 

Does your pet appear to be slowing down? Are they reluctant to join in their favorite activities? If you’ve noticed these subtle hints of pain in your pet, call us to schedule an appointment to get them relief.