The selection of adjunctive medication for the management of behaviour problems can be a challenge, and before reaching for the “behaviour modifying drugs” it is essential that the patient has been properly medically assessed. This is not just to make sure that the animal is fit to receive medication, but also to ensure that it is not in pain. In our own caseload we are recognising an increasing number of behaviour cases with chronic pain problems, which can make a variable amount of improvement with analgesia before behaviour modification strategies are implemented.