Why on earth would animals with identical nervous system feel
different ?

Who said animals have an 'identical nervous system'?

I never heard of that..Even if they did I ,what get from the topic question is in what way do they express pain that is different from humans?

They cant tell us for example..so if its not a cat or dog how would say a shark or a snake or any animal that does,nt traditionally make much sound at all..how would they express pain..fish etc.

Noone said they dont feel it..the question was 'what are the indicators of pain?'

Taurus,

The name of the thread is "do animals feel pain - what are the pain indicators". I thought that was pretty bizarre when I saw it. The sarcastic remarks about stepping on a dog's tail or something said it all. To be honest I still find it strange. Surely the originator could answer it themselves. And yes we do have the same nervous system.

The short answer is obviously 'it depends'. Sometimes it will be obvious sometimes there will be no reaction. The reactions will vary depending on creature and circumstance.

Like humans it may or may not be expressed. Sometimes we yell out particularly if surprised or having no reason to repress it. However a pair of pit bulls tearing each other apart or a pair of boxers (human) beating each other up are hardly going to yelp or cry their eyes out respectively as it would be seen as weakness by the opponent. Thus an exclamation of pain will be present in some circumstances for some types of animals and recoiling or some type of similar reaction will be the only reaction for other animals or other circumstances. Sometimes there will be no reaction at all as in the case of the boxers.

There are so many possibilities. I was with a %$^! of a horse that I stood next to in a poorly chosen position. He had (I expect deliberately) crossed his legs a little (to lure me into placing my foot in a particular place?). He then suddenly uncrossed and stamped his foot down on my foot. That was extremely painful but I didn't want him to know that so I relaxed and stayed silent. If he had no reason (such as knowing he was hurting me) to resist he was trained to lift his foot for shoeing. I calmly got him to lift his foot then did my hopping around.

mjpb..that horse story, hilariuos...are you sure that horse really planned it that way?:)

I,m not disputing if animals CAN feel pain..I wonder how we know they do?

For instance it is assumed that if we dont express pain, ie yell, scream or lash out then are we actually feeling it?

Like for example..farmers etc will inflict all kinds of cruelities on animals and because they dont react to pain in the same way we do ,and assume that they then, dont feel any or much pain?.like muellesing, docking,cruel shearing practices,removing testicles,sewing up tears etc.

Some animals just do not appear to show pain..some do.And the nervous system question is questionable..

If we cant relate to the subjects of any controlled study or trial to determine pain, suffering or whatever, we cant actually get an accurate result..if they cant tell you then you cant then just assume their answer...that is not for anyone to say except the subject themselves..we havent learned 'talk to the animals' yet so until we do...

"Noone said they dont feel it..the question was 'what are the indicators of pain?"

I think we try and apply and own thoughts and feeling to that of animals. It is my experience that animals react quite differently to humans. Their 'flight or fight' reaction kicks in much quicker than ours and quite often the noise that they make is more of a defence mechanism. So, I am saying that, quite often a lot of noise is not necessarily an indication of pain.

An animal that is quiet, depressed, wont eat, dull eyes is probably in pain, the animal making all the noise is distressed and in fear of pain. I am not saying its true of all animals.

Germ I totally agree, my dogs lost a family member (dog sister) and they were very depressed for ages. Our male dog who was her mating partner (we breed staffordshire bull terriers) and has a huge appetite did not eat for days. He is just now after 3 months getting over it. He would not even enjoy his walks and would hang his head all the way on the walk