PURPOSE:To assess pain in the immediate postoperative period in cats submitted into two different celiotomy techniques for ovariohysterectomy. METHODS:Fourteen healthy female cats up to three years old with a mean weight 2.75kg, without breed specification, were used in this double blind experiment. The animals were randomly assigned to two treatments: I-ovariohysterectomy by lateral approach (LA) or II -by midline approach (MA). The anesthesia consisted of acepromazine (0.1 mg.kg ) was administered intravenously to provide intraoperative analgesia. After surgery, pain scores were assessed through a multidimensional composite pain scale at four different times. RESULTS:Generally all factors related to psychomotor changes and pain expression showed higher scores in cats neutered by LA, but only psychomotor changes and total pain score presented statistical differences (p<0.05). The animals that underwent lateral celiotomy showed higher pain scores, at 1, 4 and 6 hours after surgery. CONCLUSIONS:Multidimensional analgesic scales were highly reliable. There was a tendency for the cats neutered by lateral approach to suffer more postoperative pain, including requiring a large number of analgesic rescues.