Artificial Intelligence For Animals

[okhawaja]

Hi Everyone!!!



My name is Omar and I am a recent engineering graduate student...I have had a lot of pets over the years (31 parrots- small to xlarge, 6 cats, 2 dogs, and 2 baby goats).

After graduating from university instead of starting a job I wanted to dedicate work to a cause I really cared about - Animal welfare.

One of my friends lost his green wing macaw to Psittacosis, and my neighbhour is considering selling his house after paying $5,000 in vet fees to save his dog.

Another person I know watched as his dog died before his eyes and the vets could do nothing because the dog owner didn't have $10,000 for vet surgery.

So I dedicated my 3 months after graduating from university towards building an artificial intelligence powered app that can detect illnesses in pets and then provide recommendations for immediate health improvement.

There are things you can do as a pet owner to make your pet healthy without vet intervention, and there are ways to prevent your pet from getting sick in the first place.

As I have been working really hard....I am really proud to announce the first early version of this phone app, and it is far from perfect but I am sure with everyone's support and help I can keep improving it until we can start saving the lives of many pets. My family doesn't care for animal welfare, so I am alone in this battle.

I would greatly appreciate if more people can take picture everyday of their pet's poop as this helps the artificial intelligence model improve.

Here is the website: InstaPetVet


I noticed a lot of people asked me to look at this bird's poop to see if it looks normal...so I incorporated this into the app and now you can use it to find out if the poop is normal or has diarrhea or if the poop is from a bird with liver problems.

 

[okhawaja]

Pics of some of my birds
https://imgur.com/a/s7Zy2RM

 

[Kiwibird]

Welcome and how crazy to hear! My husband has actually been working on a very similar app (though not AI based), specifically targeting parrots. It's always good to find others who care about the welfare of animals to dedicate such huge amounts of time to helping owners better assess their pets health.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Welcome.

I thoroughly applaud and appreciate your interest in helping people learn about their beloved pets' welfare!

Just a note of caution? Most of us here will suggest that nothing substitutes for a good avian veterinary evaluation and intervention as needed. I know that costs can be scary, but I would still hope that veterinary help is the first step.

Some links...
Certified Avian Vets
https://abvp.com/animal-owners/find-an-abvp-specialist/
Avian Veterinarians
http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
In my opinion, any of the vets listed here should be better than a regular vet, since they have engaged in additional continuing education and special preparations.

I hope you can interest some avian vets in contributing to your project!

 

[Scott]

..so I incorporated this into the app and now you can use it to find out if the poop is normal or has diarrhea or if the poop is from a bird with liver problems.

Welcome, I admire your quest to better the health and lives of companion animals! Many in the health care industry advocate the use of smartphone technology to monitor and more quickly pass information to providers.

I would agree abnormal poop may foreshadow illness, but often a single episode results from specific foods and may not be a trend. How is it possible to definitively diagnose liver disease from just poop? Or do you recommend a visit to a certified (or equivalent) vet?

 

[okhawaja]

Thank you for the feedback and encouragement everyone

A lot of pets die because the owners do not know if their pet is sick or not until it is too late...Poop can even look confusing as you mentioned because sometimes the fruit or pellet diet can make the poop look funny, but this app is trained to catch that, so it will only detect if the poop looks sick and it catches when the poop is looking funny due to diet change.

So it knows when the animal's poop is actually sick vs. not. Once the pet owner gets an early signal their pet is sick then the pet is under observation and this way the vet is contacted sooner rather than later.

There is no substitute for vets, but it's not always possible to have vets in every part of the world at any hour of the day, so this is where this tool is meant to help. Also, the same technology is being used to detect cancer in patients from brain PET scans, so it is very accurate and if people continue using this tool then it self-improves to get even better.

 

[Rival_of_the_Rickeybird]

Is this what we'r talking about?
I'm blessed to live next door to the esteemed Cleveland Clinic.
They offer a lot of PET evaluations and interventions. Fascinating!
"A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that uses a very small dose of a radioactive chemical, called a radiotracer, to help doctors see how the organs and tissues are working. PET scans are used most often to detect cancer, heart problems, brain disorders and other central nervous system disorders."
More reading..
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/10123-pet-scan

 

[wrench13]

PET scan?? Thank you Rival for expanding what that is. Here I was thinking the scanning Tinker, whose as dumb as a bag of hammers, or Salty whose too smart for his own good, isn't gonna help me at all.