Do pets feel pain in the same way as we do?

How many times you have heard that pets are good at hiding their pain?

The fact is that their nervous system works the exact same way as us, they have same pain receptors and they feel pain for many of the same reasons as humans: infections, dental problems, arthritis, bone disease, organ failure, and cancer.

However, Unfortunately, unlike humans, they are unable to speak to us about when and where they hurt. They might show some signs of pain for a few days which a lot of time might be missed by owners and then they learn how to live with the pain, because they don’t remember the good days anymore. Pain becomes a part of their daily life.

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Here are the a few example of many signs you can determine if your pet is uncomfortable:

• Having less energy than before and moving slower
• Change in their eating pattern, they either eat less or more, or they are not interested in their dry food anymore
• They don’t welcome you when you come home
• Sleeping more because thats the only time that they don’t feel pain
• Loosing their interest in toys, activities or treats they use to love
• Bad breath
• Weight loss
• Asking for more love and attention, Cats tend to hide in closet or under the bed
• Drinking more water and urinating more
• Cats tend to go potty outside their litter box
• Vomiting and/or diarrhea
• They smell differently
• Head shaking
• Becoming aggressive
• Excessive Vocalization, or surprisingly quiet
• Panting at rest
• Their coat or skin looks or smells different
• Over-grooming certain areas or not grooming themselves

Generally, any change in their lifestyle and routine behavior can be a sign of pain or discomfort.

Our veterinarians are trained to understand your pet’s body language, and they have tools to figure out where the problem is coming from and treat it, which will help your pet have a better quality of life.

Every day we find many issues in our routine general exams that owners were not even aware of them.

The biggest favor you can do to your furry family member is to get them checked out and at a minimum run a routine blood work once, if not twice a year, to learn more about their problems before they cause a big issue. As a matter of fact, some issues like kidney or liver diseases will not make your pet sick until they lose 70% of their function, which at that time is too late to treat them, routine preventative blood work and urinalysis are the only way that we can catch these diseases at an early stage and treat them accordingly.

Contact us today, and schedule a general checkup for your pet, especially if you have not done so in the last 6 months, it’s really the best way to show your furry family member that you care about them as a reward for their unconditional love.