Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Sensory and brain responses in cats with osteoarthritis pain
By Delsart, Aliénor et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2026·Groupe de Recherche en Pharmacologie Animale du Qué, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Somatosensory and visual evoked potentials and brainstem auditory evoked responses in osteoarthritic cats with chronic pain - a comparative study.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats with osteoarthritis were studied to understand how chronic pain affects their sensory responses. These cats showed changes in how they reacted to touch and sound, indicating that their nervous systems were more sensitive due to pain. The researchers found that as pain levels increased, certain sensory responses were delayed or heightened. This suggests that cats with osteoarthritis may experience altered sensory processing, which could affect their overall comfort and quality of life. Treatment options that address both pain and sensory sensitivity may help improve their well-being.
People also search for: cat osteoarthritis symptoms · how to help my cat with chronic pain · treatments for cat arthritis pain
Abstract
Although chronic pain in feline osteoarthritis involves neuro-sensitization, the associated sensory changes have not been studied. Cats with osteoarthritis ( = 20) and healthy controls ( = 6) were assessed for peripheral (paw withdrawal threshold, PWT) and spinal (response to mechanical temporal summation, RMTS) sensitization, with lower values indicating higher neuro-sensitization. Functional impairment was assessed using the Montreal Instrument for Cat Arthritis Testing, for Use by Veterinarians [MI-CAT(V)], with higher scores indicating greater impairment. Cerebral sensory integration was evaluated using cortical somatosensory evoked potential (CSEP), brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER), and visual evoked potential (VEP) under dexmedetomidine sedation. The amplitude and latency of action potentials were recorded. The Mann-Whitneytest and Spearman's rank correlation (coefficient = ) were applied ( = 0.05). Cats with pain showed increased CSEP and BAER latency and amplitude ( < 0.032) but decreased VEP latency and increased amplitude ( < 0.038) compared to healthy cats. The PWT was negatively correlated with CSEP latency and amplitude ( = -0.51 to -0.43, < 0.037) and BAER latency ( = -0.80 to -0.60, < 0.039), while the RMTS was negatively correlated with CSEP latency ( = -0.48, = 0.017). In contrast, the PWT ( = 0.71 to 0.76, < 0.010) was positively correlated with VEP latency. The MI-CAT(V) score correlated with CSEP amplitude (= 0.62, = 0.006), BAER latency ( = 0.72 to 0.90, < 0.008), and VEP latency ( = -0.73 to -0.65, = 0.023). Sensory processing is altered in cats with osteoarthritis-associated chronic pain, suggesting differential inhibitory control mechanisms.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42038047/