The Untrained Response of Pet Dogs to Human Epileptic Seizures

Epilepsy is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening neurological condition which affects approximately 65 million people worldwide. There currently no reliable simple early warning seizure-onset device available, means many with unstable epilepsy live in fear of injury or sudden death the negative impact social stigmatization. If anecdotal claims that untrained dogs anticipate seizures are found to be true, they could offer readily available system. We hypothesized that, given extraordinary olfactory ability dogs, volatile organic compound exhaled by dog’s epileptic owner may constitute an trigger mechanism make react owner-directed affiliative responses pre-seizure period. Using 19 pet experience epilepsy, we exposed them odours were deemed characteristic three seizure phases, using sweat harvested from epilepsy. The delivered point immediately under non-epileptic seated dog owner’s thighs. By altering alternating emerging samples, captured before seizure, during after two nonseizure controls, able record response dogs. Our findings suggest associated odour detect this demonstrate marked increase behaviour directed at their owners. A all presentation was intense stare statistically significant, (p < 0.0029), across pre-seizure, post-seizure phases when compared control origin.