I found this great article on PetMd about measuring arthritis in pets. I know that arthritis is something a lot of Tripawrents are concerned about. One of the greatest challenges is determining how much pain or discomfort your beloved pet is experiencing, or determining if a certain treatment is working. You can't ask them, and often times pawrents believe a treatment is working just because they are taking some form of action (kind of like a placebo effect). 

I think that the simple daily questionnaire that she suggests (which you personalize for your individual pet) is perfect for monitoring more than just how well an arthritis treatment is working, but could expand to post-surgery pain/med side effects or just how to monitor weekly quality of life. It's very similar to how doctors ask us humans: on a scale of  1-10 how bad is the pain. 

In case you don't feel like reading the article in full, here is a snippet of her sample questionnaire. You do it weekly, record your total score and compare it over time. 

Rank the following on a scale of 1 to 5:

 

1 = very poor, 2 = poor, 3 = unsure, 4 = good, 5 = very good

 

 

Jessie’s mood, characterized primarily by her willingness to interact with the family, is:

 

1              2              3              4              5

 

Jessie’s ability to climb to her favorite perch in front of the living room window is:

 

1              2              3              4              5

 

Jessie’s severity/frequency of vocalizations associated with pain is:

 

1              2              3              4              5

 

Jessie’s desire to fetch cotton swabs (a favorite pastime) is:

 

1              2              3              4              5

 

Jessie’s ability to use the litter box without apparent discomfort is:

 

1              2              3              4              5