A Q&A on recognizing and managing chronic pain in senior dogs

In this Q&A, adapted from an interview with dvm360 conducted at the 2025 New York Vet Show in New York City, Monica Tarantino, DVM, MBA, discusses chronic pain in geriatric canine patients. Tarantino shares guidance for veterinary professionals on diagnosing pain in senior dogs, recognizing signs that chronic pain may be affecting quality of life, developing multimodal pain management plans, and understanding the importance of addressing chronic pain in practice.

Tarantino is the cofounder of the Senior Dog Veterinary Society in Alexandra, Virginia, which aims to advance the care of elderly dogs in veterinary medicine. She is also the coauthor of 2 books for early-career veterinarians, New Vet Jumpstart Guide: GP Edition and New Vet Jumpstart: ER Edition. In addition, Tarantino is active in animal rescue, with 4 adopted dogs, 2 rescue cats, and the occasional foster.

dvm360: What can practitioners do to better diagnose chronic pain in older dogs?

Tarantino: I think right now, something practitioners can do to better diagnose chronic pain in older dogs is to start screening for it sooner and to be more proactive with questions to pet parents when we’re taking a history. A lot of times, there are older dogs showing signs of chronic pain at home with really subtle behavioral changes, and owners don’t know that those signs actually reflect chronic pain. So if we’re not asking, we’re not going to know.

dvm360: What signs suggest chronic pain may be affecting a dog’s quality of life?

Tarantino: Signs that chronic pain may be becoming a quality-of-life concern include changes in things like the pet’s energy level or their ability to be part of the family or do things they enjoy. That often comes up with diseases of chronic pain such as arthritis in the joints, back pain, or even dental disease. Those things can certainly slow an animal down. Noticing that slowing down is really important when we’re talking about quality of life.

dvm360: How should veterinarians approach multimodal pain management in geriatric patients?

Tarantino: When developing multimodal plans, what’s really important is to look at the patient in front of you and what they’re actually struggling with or what diseases they actually have. A lot of times in geriatric pets, you have patients that that have multiple comorbidities that they are dealing with. You have to look at them and think, what comorbidities are going to affect that pet’s quality of life the most? And how can I arrange my therapy to actually help them for that?

When it comes to chronic pain, we talk a lot about how, if a dog has pain—for example, in a knee due to arthritis or in an elbow—we don’t want to think only about treating that focal point. We need to think about the entire patient. Oftentimes, chronic pain from degenerative joint disease can actually result in and turn into neuropathic pain that affects patients at different points in the pain pathway. So really thinking about the holistic pet and their global health is important when coming up with a multimodal treatment [plan].

dvm360: Is there anything else you’d like to add or emphasize?

Tarantino: I think that chronic pain is more prevalent than we actually realize, and I think it’s so important for us to address it as practitioners because it is a quality-of-life disease, and we don’t always give it the attention it deserves at this time. For me, I think starting to bring up chronic pain more frequently as a practice at every level—making people aware of it and what the signs look like—can be highly beneficial to our patients, which is what we all want.