Pets Communicate Pain

Your Pet Can Communicate Pain, are you listening? 🤕

Reading your pet’s body language is one of the best ways to understand how they are feeling.

If your pet is yelping or whimpering, they are at a 9 or 10 on the pain scale, but there are many subtle signs before they get to that point.

Pets typically hide their pain. In the wild, other animals knowing they are wounded or in pain could be a death sentence. We as pet parents have to get really good at spotting those signs.

So here are some of the smaller signs that they are not feeling well:

1. Changes in Activity and Behavior

This could be something as small as:

– Not jumping in the bed at night anymore
– Not running as soon as they go outside.
– Not jumping as high or as frequently
– Not eating as much
– Not greeting you or guests the way they used to
– Hiding

All of these small behavioral changes indicate your pet is uncomfortable.

For example, a few months ago we had a patient come in for hiding under the couch. Normally he was such a friendly and outgoing cat, and Mom was concerned about this change in behavior. After Dr. Ashbran was able to get X-Rays, we found he had a sewing needle lodged in his throat! Even though he wasn’t showing an “obvious” sign of pain, his mom recognized that he was hiding more and that wasn’t normal for him.

2. Lip licking

This is a behavior pets do when they are uncomfortable. You may notice your pet do this when they are with strangers, in a new situation, or around other dogs- but they will also do it when they are experiencing pain.

We recently had a pet come in for limping, and it turned out to be a CCL tear. Dr. Benson’s first indication of what spot was the paint point was because the patient would lick his lips when she touched his knee. From there she was able to do further tests to confirm that our patient tore his CCL.

3. Limping

If your pet is limping, they are in pain.

We have heard from many well meaning pet parents that their pet has “always had a limp,” not realizing their pet is actually experiencing pain. Think about humans – would we limp for any reason other than experiencing some degree of pain?

A limping pet needs a veterinarian to help diagnose the issue.

Also, it’s not uncommon that if your dog is limping at home, the limp “goes away” when you bring them in to the vet. Their adrenaline starts pumping at the vet and they may not register their pain like they normally would when they are more relaxed. This doesn’t mean they are faking! We highly recommend getting a video if you can while you are at home of the limp and bring that video with you to the apointment.

Veterinarians Can Help!!

There are many steps we can take as your veterinary care team to help your pet if they are experiencing pain! This includes anything from:

– Weight management
– Acupuncture
– Pain medication
– Physical Therapy
– Supplements
– Cold laser therapy
– PEMF Therapy
– In some cases, they may require surgery.

Our number one goal as veterinarians is to help pets live more comfortable lives, so if you notice your pet is experiencing pain, bring them to the vet to help.

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