Signs of the pain assocaited with this disease are not always easy to recognize. That's because dogs and cats, like other animals are by nature less demonstative of pain to protect them from predators in nature; if a predator didn't know they were in pain they were less likely to be persued. In addition individual dogs and cats much like people respond to pain in different ways depending on many factors such as age, general health and well being and their breed.
When dogs do express pain, they do so through changes in their behavior such as:
- Lack of energy
- limping
- aggressive or defensive reactions to touch (either from people or other animals)
- unusual barking or meowing
- stiffness
- reluctance to move
- uncharacteristic hiding (under things like beds ) or wanting to go to places by themselves like basements to hide
* Signs will also vary according to the severity of the disease, if in doubt always contact your Vet to be on the safe side.
