Ellen Phiddian
Cosmos science journalist
Knitted wool caps are a good way to give cats brain scans, according to a new study.
Cats tend to chew off wires and electrodes in electroencephalograms (EEGs), which means that they need to be sedated to get a scan.
This hinders vets’ abilities to assess chronic pain from conditions like osteoarthritis.
But a Canadian research team, publishing in Journal of Neuroscience Methods, has developed a less invasive method.
The team’s solution is a hand-knitted cap, embedded with ten gold-plated electrodes.
“The knitted hat helped to keep the electrodes in place during the evaluation and prevented cats to try to play with or chew the wire,” the team writes in their paper.
They used this cap to take EEG scans of 11 cats, assessing each cat’s response to stressful and soothing stimuli, like scented oils and coloured lights.
“One cat was able to shake its head and to remove the electrodes. In this case, we stopped the procedure, re-placed the electrodes, and resumed recording,” write the researchers.
“The entire procedure lasted around 45 min per cat, including positive reinforcement (treats and petting) between the sensory exposure.”
All cats tolerated the cap well with minimal restraint – a couple of hands – required.
The team was able to collect EEG data from all cats, and analysed 4 in detail.
They’re now looking for funding to perform more scans, “to enable us to establish a genuine EEG signature for chronic pain, and many other applications that will enable us to automate chronic pain detection in the future,” according to co-lead researcher Professor Éric Troncy, a researcher at the Université de Montréal.
