A recent study demonstrated the effectiveness of using crocheted cat hats to monitor brain waves during responses to chronic pain in felines. Prior to this, there were no proposed non-invasive mechanisms to monitor brain waves in active cats — they typically had to be under anesthesia and undergo invasive procedures with monitors beneath the skin. As such, this research serves as a stepping stone for future non-invasive pain monitoring and management in animals.
In this particular study, 11 cats were exposed to various sensory stimuli with electrodes strategically placed around their head. These electrodes were held in place by crocheted caps that prevented the animals from chewing or playing with the wires they were connected to. Additionally, the electrodes were placed to reduce the animals’ distress, as a gel and conducive solution were applied directly below the electrode to promote optimal readings without shaving the cat (a practice that is typically done to facilitate electrode readings). The feline subjects had two weeks to get acclimated to the room in which the study was being conducted, and then were presented with various stimuli for a couple of minutes to monitor their responding brain activity.
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Including longer acclimation time to the room and caps to measure brain activity reduces the stress of feline subjects in this experiment compared to previous, more invasive approaches.
The stimuli included olfactory exposure to scents such as grapefruit, which is typically mildly unpleasant for the animals, and catnip, which is a pleasant smell for many cats. Additionally, visual exposure included red light, which was used as a baseline reference for brain activity (since cats operate best at medium wavelengths), as well as green light and blue light. In the study, cats had the strongest visual reaction to blue light, which had the highest frequency.
Though this study used a smaller sample size and did not measure correlations between age and stimulation response, it provides sufficient evidence for future research to assess the efficacy of various pain medications for felines in a non-invasive manner. Electrode responses were consistent, and the cat subjects remained stress-free throughout each reading. Since it is significantly harder for veterinarians to objectively measure the pain response of their animal patients compared to humans, this technique can be used to further treatment research for animals suffering from chronic pain as new medications are devised and tested.
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