BURLINGTON, Mass., June 23, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - PetPace, the provider of an innovative IoT collar for remote real-time monitoring and analysis of pet vital signs and activity, today released the findings of a new medical case study. The PetPace smart collar case study, available for download here , documents in detail how the PetPace collar facilitated the successful treatment of a three-year-old American Pit Bull from a dangerous heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) parasitic infection.
The patient, named Jimmy, was diagnosed with a heartworm infection - a serious and potentially fatal condition. The parasite lives in the heart, lungs and surrounding blood vessels and can cause severe lung disease, heart failure and organ damage. According to the American Heartworm Society, during treatment for heartworm it is essential that patient activity be minimized in order to decrease chances of fatal complications. Despite this, restricting the activity of a dog for the weeks or months of treatment is extremely challenging.
Following initial medical treatment, a PetPace smart collar was applied to Jimmy to monitor adherence with prescribed activity limitations, and to detect development of potential complications from the treatment. The non-invasive PetPace monitoring collar improves pet health and well-being by wirelessly tracking vital signs and a range of physical and behavioral parameters. The data gathered by the PetPace collar, as well as real-time alerts of critical health issues, are readily available to both owners and caregivers via a smartphone application.
The PetPace collar closely tracked Jimmy's daily activity. To assist his owner in maintaining the activity restriction, an alert for activity above a pre-determined threshold was defined in the PetPace monitoring system by Jimmy's veterinarian. Any activity above that level generated an alert, which was sent to the owner.
Following the receipt of PetPace alerts for high activity, and the owner's conscientious handling of them, Jimmy's average daily activity levels clearly declined, as can be seen in the graph below. Before activation of the alerts feature, Jimmy spent over 7% of the day active on average. After PetPace alerts activation, that number was down to less than 4% - a decrease of over 50%.
"The PetPace wearable device is intended to provide key clinical insights, meaningful owner engagement and improved compliance with medical instructions after discharge from the hospital," said Dr. Asaf Dagan, a specialist in canine and feline medicine and surgery, and PetPace's Chief Veterinarian. "Jimmy's case demonstrates an effective use of PetPace collar to help prevent a potentially fatal situation. This principle can be applied to other conditions in which activity restriction is recommended," he concluded.
"Until now, veterinarians had no effective way of knowing if the patient is truly resting at home as we instructed," noted Dr. Dick Hay, a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners and Jimmy's veterinarian. "The PetPace technology allows us, for the first time, to work together with the owners to achieve the common goal," he continued.
"We've loved being able to monitor Jimmy's activity levels using the Pet Pace collar! The alerts that were generated helped us modify our approach to keeping him calm and were a great tool to help us while he recovered. I especially appreciate being able to view the data online - even from my phone!" says Matthew Sandness, Jimmy's owner. "We have enjoyed using the PetPace system and would recommend it to friends who have a similar need to monitor their pets." added Mr. Sandness.
About PetPace
PetPace was founded in 2012 to bring peace of mind to pet owners and prevent unnecessary pain and suffering for dogs and cats through improved pet health and quality of life. PetPace specializes in the remote monitoring of pet vital signs by utilizing advanced analytical methods and alerting models. The company's low power, wireless collar is fitted with an array of sensors that report abnormal vital signs within established physiological and behavioral parameters. Once an abnormal sign or behavior is detected, a sophisticated Cloud-based analytical engine evaluates the signs and if needed, sends an immediate alert regarding any suspected condition. This allows the owner or the vet to take pre-emptive action to protect the pet's health. For more information about PetPace real-time pet health monitoring, visit http://petpace.com/
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