Discover their signs of pain

In general, animals, but especially dogs, tend to hide their pain and it is quite difficult to tell when your dog is actually in pain. In this case, you should pay attention to their behavior and notice if there is something strange, such as limping, pacing, excessive panting or refusing to lie down. These may be the signs that your beloved dog is in pain.

“When they’re in decline, they’ve lost [mental activity], [their] appetite is gone,” says Alice Villalobos, DVM, DPNAP, founder and medical director of Pawspice and Animal Oncology, a consultation service in Hermosa Beach and Woodland Hills, California. “We’re looking at a slowdown of everything.”

“Pain can be so subtle in dogs,” said Dr. Pellin. “As part of their personalities, they just want to make people happy, so sometimes they hide things and push through the pain. Anything that doesn’t seem quite like the normal dog is potentially a sign of pain.”