Whether a pet is in a permanent home, animal shelter, foster home or veterinary setting, he deserves to be as free from pain as possible.

To accomplish that, that pet's caretakers need to stay up to date on new developments in what we know about pain and how to manage it. Fortunately, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) has it covered with their 2015 pain management guidelines, updated for the first time since 2007.

From the announcement:

The 2015 guidelines differ from the 2007 version in several ways:

• The first sections’ general concepts "set the stage" for the remaining, more specific content.
• The importance of an integrated approach to managing pain that does not rely strictly on analgesic drugs is discussed. Because pain assessment in animals has become more scientifically grounded in recent years, various clinically validated instruments for scoring pain in both dogs and cats are described.
• A section on feline degenerative joint disease has been added due to the increased awareness of this painful condition in cats over the last few years.
• The extensive list of published references includes numerous recent studies published within the last three years.

The 2015 Guidelines can be downloaded here.