In a world first, veterinary scientists at Université de Montréal have found a way to scan the brains of cats while they’re awake, using electrodes concealed under specially knitted wool caps.

Highlights

• Electroencephalography (EEG), using surface electrodes, allowed non-invasive recording of brain activity in conscious cats.

• Event-related potentials following mechanical and olfactory stimulations were identified in awake cats using EEG.

• Visual stimulations correlated with EEG spectral signatures, showed distinct patterns across different light wavelengths.

• This method allows to study brain activity in animals affected by chronic pain and its modulation with sensory stimulation.

Chronic pain associated with radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) affects 25.6 % of the adult feline population and this incidence increases with age .

Electroencephalography recording in awake cats was well-tolerated and enabled the identification of ERPs following RMTS and olfactory stimulations.

Considering the OA neuroplastic changes, and the possibility of recording and analysing EEGs, this makes them a non-invasive diagnostic tool of choice and this method opens new avenues for improving animal welfare. It could be used to objectively measure sensory hypersensitivity in OA cats using ERPs, and to determine pain modulation using spectral analysis.