MORE HELP IN RECOGNISING PAIN
Pain in cats is a topic International Cat
Care comes back to again and again because it is so easy to miss — cats don’t give much away! In last month’s column we talked about changes in behaviour that can help owners to recognise pain in their cats. While this time last year, we introduced The Feline Grimace Scale and Your Cat readers fed back into a survey to see if cat caregivers could recognise pain using the Scale, which was originally developed for vets.
Now, the team behind The Feline
Grimace Scale (FGS) have launched a smart phone application for real-time acute pain assessment of cats by cat carers and veterinary health professionals. Developed by the Steagall Laboratory at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Université de Montréal, the FGS phone app promotes pain awareness in cats and teaches users to use the tool. The application also allows realtime pain scoring of the cat with further clinical recommendations.
Finally, cat carers can take a picture of their cat’s face and share with their veterinarians, if pain is suspected. Dr Paulo Steagall, professor of veterinary anaesthesia and pain management at the university, is so enthusiastic about helping people to recognise pain in cats and his hard work and clear explanations will make a difference to so many cats who can be given pain relief. He is a true friend to cats and iCatCare is delighted to have worked with him to spread the message.
● The App is available for Android and Apple platforms in English, French, and Spanish. Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/feline-grimace-scale/id1596750830
● Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com. universitedemontreal.felinegrimacescale