This app uses artificial intelligence to detect pain in cats: it is a success in Japan

Its creators claim that this AI is 95% accurate in detecting cat pain and that its performance still has room for improvement

This app uses artificial intelligence to detect pain in cats: it is a success in Japan
Thousands of users are already using CatsMe! in Japan to find out if your cats are in pain | Photograph by Sam Lion

The Japan Pet Food Association estimates that there were about 16 million cats and dogs in Japan last year. The figure is so high that in Japan there are more cats and dogs than children under 15 years of age. Knowing this fact, the success of CatsMe!, an application aimed at helping users discover if their cats have a health problem, is understandable.

Specifically, CatsMe! It uses artificial intelligence to detect pain in cats. This way, pet owners know if they need to be taken to the vet and can fix health problems before they become serious. At the moment, the creators of the application claim that it has a 95% accuracy in detection, a percentage that could be even better in the future.

CatsMe!, the app that detects cat pain

As Reuters reports, a mobile app called CatsMe! has become popular in Japan. It is one of the most innovative apps we have known to date, as it relies on artificial intelligence to carry out its main function: detecting pain in cats.

This app is tremendously useful for cat owners, who can now know for sure whether their pets are suffering from any health problems or not. This way, they also know when the trip to the vet is necessary. This is confirmed by Mayumi Kitakata, a Japanese man who lost one of his cats to cancer 6 years ago. If Kitakata had known that her cat was in pain beforehand, perhaps she could have remedied it in advance.

CatsMe! Website

CatsMe! was born from a collaboration between the startup Carelogy and researchers at Nihon University. So far, the AI has been trained on about 6,000 photographs of cats, obtaining a current accuracy of around 95%. However, those responsible for the app say that this accuracy in detection could even improve in the future when AI training is deeper.

CatsMe!, which offers a 2-week free trial, basically analyzes photos of cats uploaded by users. By comparing those images with its database, the AI can detect whether the animal is in pain or not. This is something easy for veterinarians to recognize, but much more complicated for the pet owners themselves.

CatsMe! It already has more than 230,000 users in the Asian country

“Our statistics show that more than 70% of elderly cats have arthritis or pain, but only 2% of them go to the hospital. So, instead of a final diagnosis, we use (CatsMe!) as a tool to let the owners know if the situation is normal or not,” explains Kazuya Edamura, a professor at Nihon University. At the moment there are more than 230,000 users of the app, a very good figure considering that it is paid and that it was launched last year.

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