title: Development of a behaviour-based measurement tool with defined intervention level for assessing acute pain in cats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a composite measure pain scale tool to assess acute pain in cats and derive an intervention score.
  
  
  METHODS
  To develop the prototype composite measure pain scale-feline, words describing painful cats were collected, grouped into behavioural categories and ranked. To assess prototype validity two observers independently assigned composite measure pain scale-feline and numerical rating scale scores to 25 hospitalised cats before and after analgesic treatment. Following interim analysis the prototype was revised (revised composite measure pain scale-feline). To determine intervention score, two observers independently assigned revised composite measure pain scale-feline and numerical rating scale scores to 116 cats. A further observer, a veterinarian, stated whether analgesia was necessary.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean ± sd decrease in revised composite measure pain scale-feline and numerical rating scale scores following analgesia were 2 · 4 ± 2 · 87 and 1 · 9 ± 2 · 34, respectively (95% confidence interval for mean change in revised composite measure pain scale-feline between 1 · 21 and 3 · 6). Changes in revised composite measure pain scale-feline and numerical rating scale were significantly correlated (r = 0 · 8) (P < 0001). Intervention level score of ≥4/16 was derived for revised composite measure pain scale-feline (26 · 7% misclassification) and ≥3/10 for numerical rating scale (14 · 5% misclassification).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A valid instrument with a recommended analgesic intervention level has been developed to assess acute clinical pain in cats that should be readily applicable in practice.
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G61 1QH.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calvo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Holden
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Firth
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Nolan
mesh_terms: D059787:Acute Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000662:veterinary*; D000698:Analgesia / Q000592:standards / Q000662:veterinary; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002415:Cats / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results