Tech startup Carelogy and researchers at Nihon University have developed CatsMe!, an AI-driven smartphone application that purports to tell when a cat is feeling pain
Nihon University professor and the head of its Animal Medical Center Kazuya Edamura, 49, uses 'CatsMe!', an AI-driven smartphone application, jointly developed by tech startup Carelogy and researchers at Nihon University that purports to tell when a cat is feeling pains, while examining a cat at the medical centre in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
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Mayumi Kitakata frets about the health and wellbeing of Chi, her stoic housemate who enjoys treats, indulges a bit too much in the catnip, and about 14 is getting on in years for a feline. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
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Mayumi Kitakata, 57, has had pet cats come and go over the years, and to help give Chi as many seasons as possible, she's turned to artificial intelligence. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
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Kazuya Edamura gives a lecture on the diagnosis of pain in cats to students by using photos used to train the AI of 'CatsMe! (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
In March, Kitakata became an early adopter of CatsMe!, which cuts down on the guesswork of when it is necessary to embark on a stressful trip to the veterinarian. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
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While pets are an integral part of many families around the world, these companions have an outsized role in Japan due to the ageing population and plummeting birth rate. The Japan Pet Food Association estimated there were almost 16 million pet cats and dogs in the country in 2023, more than the number of children under 15. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
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Tech startup Carelogy and researchers at Nihon University developed CatsMe! by training it on 6,000 pictures of cats, and the app has been used by more than 230,000 customers since its launch last year. The developers say it is more than 95 percent accurate and expect that degree to improve as the AI trains on more feline faces. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
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Kazuya Edamura said vets like him can tell to a certain degree whether an animal is in pain or not, but it's a harder task for owners. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
Kitakata and Chi live in a central Tokyo apartment with the perfect feline napping spot near a balcony window which overlooks cherry trees five floors below. She monitors Chi's toilet activity and uses the app to read its face each day. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
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"Our statistics show that more than 70 percent of elderly cats have arthritis or pain, but only 2 percent of them actually go to a hospital," Edamura said. "So rather than a final diagnosis, we use (the app) as a tool to make owners aware of whether the situation is normal or not." (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
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Kitakata had cats since her mid-20s, including Soran, a brown-striped tom who died about six years ago from cancer at just eight years old. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)
