Ask HN: Is there a way to get notified when my cat has seizures?

71 points

2 years ago

My cat Yuri has epilepsy since birth and even if he’s on medication, he has random seizures from time to time. Generally these are not very dangerous, but sometimes they won’t stop and I need to get him to the vet as soon as possible, or else he might die.

Right now, when I’m not home, I check him on camera to see if he’s doing ok. This can be stressful, especially when my phone has bad coverage or if Yuri is hiding.

It would be great if we could find some way to detect his movements (or sounds maybe?) when he’s having a seizure and send a push notification to my phone.

I’m an iOS developer so I could easily do the server/app part, however I have no idea about the rest. Is there some sort of gyroscope or something we could attach to his collar? Or maybe a programmable smart watch? Or anything else that could help?

I’d really appreciate any help or advice!

Some extra information:

• Here's a youtube video showing how a seizure looks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUzJebl0464 WARNING: this can be disturbing!!

• Seizures are totally random, but usually they last around 3-5 minutes. They start slowly, and at their peak the cat lies on the floor, moving legs quickly and shaking its head.

• Yuri's heart rate goes up for 10-15' until he calms down.

• I'm open to any solution and it's not a problem if it's not perfect (but I would prefer false positives over false negatives)

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