In the first part of this newsletter, I had approached the subject of pain in pets and discussed the fact that pets hide their pain, particularly in their old age. For example, chronic, painful arthritis can insidiously settle in as age advances, unbeknownst to pet parents. The good news is that there ARE signs and that it IS possible to become aware of whether or not your pet is in pain, if you only know what to look for. On my website, I have listed over 60 symptoms of hidden pet pain http://www.homepeteuthanasia.com/end-of
Just as there are a wide variety of manifestations of pain in humans, so are there for animals. Not all humans feel pain the same way; pain is likely not felt the same way by every animal either.
Some people tolerate dental work very stoically and honestly don’t mind it that much while the same procedure is unadulterated torture for others. Similarly, we have observed that if you cut a toe nail too short on one dog, he might simply pull his paw away while another dog might shriek so loud that an entire block will wonder what animal abuse has just taken place!