dogs sniff diabetics

TMAU sensor option:
Electronic nose
TMA urine paper
Trained pet

One of the most frustrating factors of systemic body odors is that normally neither the sufferer nor 'loved ones' can smell the person, and presumably most with the syndrome are transient sufferers (otherwise doctors wouldn't think you were crazy). It has been speculated here before about the ways that the community could come up with a 'detector' they could use to monitor their problem. The 2 main options probably come down to an electronic nose (the ideal solution) or a 'trained pet'. Electronic noses may be not be yet up to a standard for this problem (or at least, no-one is making one for systemic body odors). Regarding a trained pet, it is known that dogs are being trained to detect cancers and diabetes, so it would seem possible that a pet could be trained for trimethylaminuria.

This article gives the background of the work at the Cancer and Bio-Detection Dogs research center in Aylesbury, southern England are training dogs to detect cancers and diabetes (and presumably other bio disorders as funds improve). Presumably such work is going on in other places too. Probably for TMAU, a cat would be best (a barking dog would not seem a good way to tell a patient they are smelling).

Dogs trained to sniff diabetes