At first glance, these cats in adorable crochet hats might seem silly, but they’re actually wearing them in the name of science. Researchers at the University of Montreal wanted to study how cats experience chronic pain by using electroencephalography (EEG) to measure their brain activity. However, the challenge came when trying to keep the electrodes in place on the heads of the 11 cats involved. To solve this, they tucked the electrodes into tiny crochet hats, keeping them secure and out of reach from curious paws.
“Because cats tended to shake their head and play or chew our EEG electrodes, we had the idea of the little knitted hat that would keep the electrodes in place,” explains Aude Castel, Assistant Professor at the University of Montreal’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. “With some treats and positive reinforcement, the cats tolerated the hat very well and allowed us to record their brain activity while awake and being exposed to different types of sensory stimuli.”
More than 25% of adult cats experience chronic pain due to radiographic osteoarthritis, a figure that increases with age. Current treatment options are limited and often come with harmful side effects for cats. This led researchers to explore non-invasive methods for managing chronic pain in felines, many of which have already been proven to work on humans.
The team introduced the cats to various sensory stimuli they believed could help alleviate pain and stress, including citrus scents and exposure to different light wavelengths. Castel explains, “The reasoning behind exposing them to different stimulations is that we wanted to see if, just like in people, we could modulate their brain activity and, by the same token, their pain perception, with sensory stimulation.”
Thanks to the crochet hats, the electrodes stayed securely in place throughout the experiment, allowing the researchers to finally collect the data. Although some recordings had to be discarded due to signal interference from the cats’ movements, the remaining results provided valuable insight into how the cats’ brain waves responded to the sensory stimuli.
This is the first study to successfully perform EEGs on awake cats using surface electrodes, and the team hopes it won’t be the last. Their findings are vital to helping us understand chronic pain in animals and could lead to new therapeutic treatments in the future—possibly even extending this approach to other species.
Check out the full report here.
Researchers at the University of Montreal studied chronic pain in cats with electroencephalography, using tiny crochet hats to keep the electrodes secure.
h/t: [IFL Science]
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Aude Castel / University of Montreal.
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