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Most people know that certain dogs qualify as service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Dogs have the ability to detect seizures in humans before they happen, or respond once they begin, and these dogs are known as seizure-alert dogs. While this ability in dogs is remarkable, what about cats? Can cats also detect seizures? Reports 1 and anecdotal stories 2 around the world claim that cats can indeed detect seizures.
While claims of cats detecting seizures are evident, is there any scientific proof? Unfortunately, we could not find any scientific proof that cats can detect seizures, but try telling this to cat owners who claim their cats can. Let’s explore this topic more in-depth.
Can Cats Sense a Seizure Coming in Humans?
While no scientific proof exists explaining whether cats can detect seizures, a few stories out there make you wonder if it is indeed true. One story 3, in particular, raises eyebrows regarding the subject.
In 2011, a 19-year-old boy claimed his cat, Lily, was able to detect his weekly epileptic seizures before they happened. To Lily, she was simply responding to a medical emergency and taking action.
Lily was normally a quiet cat, but when she sensed a seizure coming on in Nathan, she would run around the house, meowing loudly to alert Nathan’s parents so they could assist Nathan by keeping him from hurting himself or falling during the seizure. Nathan stopped breathing during one seizure, and Lily licked his mouth until he started breathing again.
Experts believe that cats might use their incredible sense of smell to detect seizures, meaning they can detect chemical changes within the body before a seizure happens. Cats, just like dogs, have a keen sense of smell, making us believe they might have the ability to detect seizures in the same way as dogs can.
Is a Cat’s Sense of Smell as Good as a Dog’s?
Cats have fewer scent receptors than dogs, but cats may be able to differentiate certain smells from one another better than dogs. Mammals have several different scent receptor proteins, one being the V1R protein family. 4 This protein allows mammals to differentiate one smell from another.
To put into perspective, humans have two variants of this protein, dogs have nine, and cats have 30.
However, this difference in receptor types does not necessarily mean cats are superior to dogs overall in scent detection. Dogs still have a far greater number of total scent receptors (hundreds of millions compared to cats’ ~50–80 million).
Can You Train a Cat to Detect Seizures?
It may be possible to train a cat to detect seizures, but a cat will probably not be as trainable as a dog for these medical situations. Cats can be trained to use the toilet and the litter box and possibly even learn the commands “sit” and “stay.”
As far as training to detect seizures, you can try rewarding with a treat if your cat detects a seizure; it certainly would not hurt, but again, no scientific proof exists on whether or not this is possible. Currently, only dogs are recognized and trained as seizure-alert or seizure-response service animals. However, there are anecdotal reports from cat owners who believe their cats sense seizures before they happen, though this has not been scientifically proven.
Final Thoughts
While we can’t scientifically prove that cats can detect seizures, fascinating stories of cat owners claiming their cats can do so certainly make us wonder about a cat’s ability.
Cats are incredibly intelligent, making this theory not so far-fetched. Still, if you suffer from seizures, it is important to rely on medical care and trained service animals rather than expecting a cat to provide reliable seizure alerts.
Featured Image Credit By: evrymmnt, Shutterstock
6 Responses
I'll leave a response if I may. I have severe epilepsy with bilateral hippocampal sclerosis.
My cats check on me all the time.
Yet I had an otter that I brought up from a baby. She would run hundreds of meters, screaming, alerting locals that something was wrong and would get them to follow her. She would then watch over as I was brought around and would never leave my side.
It's something most humans have lost.
Thank you for sharing your very interesting experience, Roger Adams. How lucky to have such wonderful furry guardians at your side. And yes, we agree they do have many talents we humans have lost, and their loyalty is an example to us.
my cat kitkat bar knows when i have a seziure when i am about to have on she gets right up to me and even is so close so i do not fall down out of the bed she tries to get on me to see if anything else is wrong
Hi Tonya, thanks for sharing your story. What a blessing to have this kitty looking after you like Kitkat does. We love to read this!
My cat can detect seizures. I have a brain tumor that makes me have them sometimes. My cat will go around my head and meow prior to having one. And while having one he circles my head and wraps himself around it. He's had no training and at first I didn't understand until I put it together one time. What a blessing it has become. Now I listen and can prepare when he notifies me.
Wow Tami, that's incredible. I can't believe he had no training, either. That's very special, and such a lovely way to bond with your cat even deeper. Thank you for sharing that with us, I hope he doesn't have to detect many for you, but it is such good peace of mind to know you have him to notify you in case one is about to come on.