Caturday felid trifecta: Cats get knitted beanies for brain scans; wet cat saved by man with fishing net; Marxism explained by cats; and lagniappe

October 12, 2024 • 9:30 am

If you find cat-related material, send it along (one reader already does).

From Cosmos we see that scientists have developed new ways to give brain scans to cats, which of course don’t want to wear electrodes on their head.  Click headline to read:

Cosmos caption: Fée, an abandoned cat with chronic osteoarthritis, was one of 11 who went through the knitted cap tests at Université de Montréal’s veterinary school. Credit: Aliénor Delsart / Université de Montréal

An excerpt:

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.”

A cat styling the knitted cap and electrodes. Credit: Delsart et al., 2024, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2024.110254

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.

Here’s are some EEGs from scanned moggies:

Graphs recorded from feline subjects. Credit: Delsart et al., 2024, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2024.110254

 

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Here we have my favorite genre of YouTube video: an animal rescue, and particularly cat rescues. This cat must have fallen or climbed onto the pipes, and then jumps into the water to escape. The soggy moggy was rescued by a nice man with a net, though the rescue wasn’t straightforward. The man wields the net with great dexterity, and finally snags it. This reminds me of how I rescued some ducks with a net (though I was actually in the water). I hope the cat found a good home.

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Maybe if Marxism was explained by a cat, we’d understand it better. Here’s a 2+-minute short explanation of Marxism using cats. The YouTube notes:

There is nothing the internet loves more than cats. So here is a very brief introduction to Marxism, explained by Bosley.

There is also a book that helps teach kitties about Marxism: Marx for Cats.

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Lagniappe:  A cat rescue story; click to read. Toilet water! Click to read the Telegram article:

The piece:

When stray pets are left to wander under the Texas summer sun for days and weeks on end, it could lead to a death sentence. But one cat in the Lone Star State proved his will to survive by finding at least some refuge.

When Edd was discovered by Houston SPCA investigators, he was living in a closed-down tanning salon, living off toilet water with no food in sight, the shelter said in an Aug. 27 Facebook post. He was also underweight and skittish.

“Shoppers and fellow business owners said they could see him in the window,” Julie Kuenstle with the Houston SPCA told McClatchy News. “It’s estimated that Edd was inside the closed store for around a month but survived on the water in the toilet.”

Now, weeks later, Edd is ready to start a new chapter of his life — his now-healthy life.

The SPCA ad for Edd is below.  There’s a happy ending, as the article says,

Kuenstle told McClatchy News that it didn’t take long for someone to offer Edd a forever home — he was adopted at the end of September.

 

h/t: Barry, Ginger K., Michael

15 thoughts on “Caturday felid trifecta: Cats get knitted beanies for brain scans; wet cat saved by man with fishing net; Marxism explained by cats; and lagniappe”

  1. “So here is a very brief introduction to Marxism, explained by Bosley.”

    How about that.

    Adorable.

    1. At first, I thought neglecting the 100s of thousands killed by Communism was, in fact, neglect, but Bosley is a cat!

      1. Estimated number of deaths because of Communism is 100 million. So a bit more than 100s of thousands. As a matter of fact even more than the victims of World War II. It’s a pity that my generation, who lived under Communism, never managed to produce such sweet videos for the young generation who after seeing the nice cat video may think that Marxism is the cat’s whiskers.

        1. Try going directly to YouTube and search for “marxist cat episode: marx for cats,” the one with the reddish background. (There are more with Marx in the title than I would have imagined.)

  3. Regarding osteoarthritis pain in cats. I recently started my cat on Solensia (frunevetmab), an injectable monoclonal antibody developed by Zoetis. It targets nerve growth factor and disrupts the flow of pain inflammation from the joints to the brain. Must be given by a vet at about $100.00 a month. My cat is 13 years old. Somebody had dumped her on my porch 12 years ago. She had a fractured pelvis and maybe injury to jaw and head. She has never been able to use the litterbox as she has to walk to have a bm. Consequently she poops or pees days apart. She can’t really meow and used to have difficulty eating and yawning. She has improved over the years but recently has much difficulty grooming and walking. I found Solensia on line and got my vet to order it. The results are amazing, she can run and range of motion is much improved. The vet and several techs have started their cats on it. There can be side effects but I haven’t seen any.
    .

    1. Good on you for going to such lengths for this (previously) mistreated cat. I can’t imagine what she went through before she landed on your porch. I hope you won’t mind if I say bless your heart (I’m not a believer but still use such terms). I can’t, couldn’t, didn’t go to such extremes with my own cats. What you’ve described (of her reaction to the injections) is nothing short of miraculous. Fortunate kitty.

    2. FWIW, our 14 yo Border Collie is getting a similar (?same) canine monoclonal antibody (“Librela”) injection and it appears to be helping her (n of 1, unblinded, only control is how she moved prior to injections).

      1. I believe Solensia was for dogs only at first. Last year I asked my vet if there was anything for arthritis pain for cats and they said no. This year I thought maybe there is something new on the internet they don’t know about, which turned out to be the case. And now they’re using it on their own cats.
        Of course when I first read about Solensia online I thought it was probably bs, but this time it turned out to be real.

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