Understanding Cat Pain Project

Understanding Cat Pain Project

Recognising pain in cats is essential for promoting positive welfare. The “Understanding cat pain project” is focused on the better understanding and assessing of pain in cats, using non-invasive methods.

We are particularly interested in looking at the behavioural changes associated with the experience of pain, so that cats in pain can be identified more quickly and treated more effectively, before their welfare becomes compromised.

The way we are doing this is by gathering information from the general cat owner population, as well as from veterinary clinics, using pictures and videos of cats. Please click here if you’re a vet or here if you’re a cat owner to see how you can get involved.

Understanding Cat Pain Project

Understanding Cat Pain Project

Recognising pain in cats is essential for promoting positive welfare. The “Understanding cat pain project” is focused on the better understanding and assessing of pain in cats, using non-invasive methods.

We are particularly interested in looking at the behavioural changes associated with the experience of pain, so that cats in pain can be identified more quickly and treated more effectively, before their welfare becomes compromised.

The way we are doing this is by gathering information from the general cat owner population, as well as from veterinary clinics, using pictures and videos of cats. Please click here if you’re a vet or here if you’re a cat owner to see how you can get involved.

Understanding Cat Pain Project

Understanding Cat Pain Project

Recognising pain in cats is essential for promoting positive welfare. The “Understanding cat pain project” is focused on the better understanding and assessing of pain in cats, using non-invasive methods.

We are particularly interested in looking at the behavioural changes associated with the experience of pain, so that cats in pain can be identified more quickly and treated more effectively, before their welfare becomes compromised.

The way we are doing this is by gathering information from the general cat owner population, as well as from veterinary clinics, using pictures and videos of cats. Please click here if you’re a vet or here if you’re a cat owner to see how you can get involved.

About the Study

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with tissue damage. As such, it involves far more than a mere physical response: it is a psychological state that affects the sensation, the behavioural expression of the subject and ultimately the cats’ quality of life.

The aims of the project

The project, “Understanding Cat Pain” looks to identify the early signs of pain expression in cats and to help owners and veterinary surgeons to recognize this emotion as soon as possible. This will ultimately ensure the timely delivery of treatment as well as increase its effectiveness.

To do this we will evaluate different aspects of the expression of pain in cats (in particular their faces), in collaboration with veterinary surgeons and computer engineers. We will then work towards translating these findings into practical tools which can be used by both cat owners and vets.