This got thrown at me today. At first glance is sounds silly but there might be something to it.
Is it true that a severe epileptic could own a dog trained to smell or feel an oncoming seizure, giving the owner time to act before the seizure happens?
IIRC, not all dogs are capable of detecting an oncoming seizure (in fact, most probably can’t), but yet, it certainly is possible, and Seizure-Alert dogs are used much as a blind or otherwise handicapped person would use a service dog. Actually, I think most service dogs of this type are primarily trained to supervise/guard a person during a seizure, and perhaps obtain help after one, but not specifically to alert the person that they are about to have a seizure, though I’m sure that does happen, to some extent. I don’t know if the warning would ever be sufficiently early to prevent a seizure, but it might allow the person time to sit/lie down to avoid injury.
Do a Google search for “seizure alert dog” (in quotes) and you’ll get thousands of hits. Here is a well-balanced article written by the Senior Editor at Epilepsy.com.