From Melanie Thompson, Leighton Buzzard, Buckinghamshire, UK
I am not at all surprised that Amélie Catala and her colleagues find that dogs can smell when someone has had an epileptic seizure. The reason for this is that I can smell when my dog has had one (6 April, p 19). My dog’s seizures are generally well controlled by medication, but if he has even a small one, even in the middle of the night, I know because of the telltale smell: an acrid pong like no other. It seems to come from his saliva. Since becoming a dog owner, I have realised that the human sense of smell is better than we realise.
