Japan Develops App To Detect Cat’s Pain

Are you constantly worried about the well-being of your cats? Then you might be interested in downloading an application that can detect if your cat is in pain.

A Tokyo-based tech firm and university have collaborated to produce an app trained on thousands of cat photos that can tell if your pet is in agony.

"Cat Pain Detector" has gained 43,000 users since it was releaseed last May, a Phys.Org report said.

6,000 Cat Photos

Go Sakioka, Carelogy's head developer, said the users of their app are mostly from Japan, but it has caught the attention of cat owners who are from Europe and South America.

The company teamed up with Nihon University College of Bioresource Science wherein they studied at least 6,000 cat photos to determine the position of the animal's ears, noses, whiskers, and eyelids.

They used a scoring system created by the University of Montreal to assess minute variations between healthy cats and those experiencing discomfort as a result of imperceptible illnesses.

Then, they entered the data into an AI detection system, which has improved its abilities as a result of the user-uploaded photographs.

"The app has an accuracy level of more than 90%", Sakioka told AFP as cited in a Yahoo article.

This modern-day app is part of an initiative by technological companies to determine the overall welfare of their fur babies, including a similar mood and pain detector which made in Canada and Israel.

App Used In Vet Clinics

The Japan Pet Food Association noted that 60% of cat owners in Japan bring their feline to the vet once a year.

The developers of the latest app said they want to give cat owners a provision of whether they need to bring their pets to the veterinarian or not.

"We want to help cat owners judge more easily at home whether to see a vet or not," Sakioka said.

Japanese veterinarians have already started using the app, but the developer warned that the AI system needs to be enhanced to be more accurate before it is used as a standardized tool.

Cats Symbolized Good Luck In Japan

A maneki-neko is a popular Japanese cat figurine believed to bring good luck.

The Japanese considered cats to have protective powers and symbolize good fortune, hence, cat owners in the Land of the Rising Sun spend a lot on the welfare of their pets.

Katsuhiro Miyamoto, professor emeritus at Kansai University, said the Japanese phenomenon "nekonomics," or economic effects of cats, has earned about US$14.6 billion (1.9 trillion yen) in 2021 alone, MenaFN reported.

Japanese also frequently visit cat theme cafes and tourist spots, such as islands known for having a lot of cats just to take pictures and pet the cats.

In 2022, cats population in Japan was recorded at an estimated 8.8 million as it remained to be one of the leading animals held as pets in the country.