When death comes calling, so does Oscar the cat

[steelerbabe]

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours.


Oscar the cat doesn't like to be put out in the hall when a patient is dying.

His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means the patient has less than four hours to live.

"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one," said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

The 2-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The facility treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a few hours.

Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously and is generally aloof. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people," he said.


Oscar is better at predicting death than the people who work there, said Dr. Joan Teno of Brown University, who treats patients at the nursing home and is an expert on care for the terminally ill

She was convinced of Oscar's talent when he made his 13th correct call. While observing one patient, Teno said she noticed the woman wasn't eating, was breathing with difficulty and that her legs had a bluish tinge, signs that often mean death is near.

Oscar wouldn't stay inside the room, though, so Teno thought his streak was broken. Instead, it turned out the doctor's prediction was roughly 10 hours too early. Sure enough, during the patient's final two hours, nurses told Teno that Oscar joined the woman at her bedside.

Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill they probably don't know he's there, so patients aren't aware he's a harbinger of death. Most families are grateful for the advance warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put outside, he paces and meows his displeasure.

No one's certain if Oscar's behavior is scientifically significant or points to a cause. Teno wonders if the cat notices telltale scents or reads something into the behavior of the nurses who raised him.

Nicholas Dodman, who directs an animal behavioral clinic at the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and has read Dosa's article, said the only way to know is to carefully document how Oscar divides his time between the living and dying.

If Oscar really is a furry grim reaper, it's also possible his behavior could be driven by self-centered pleasures like a heated blanket placed on a dying person, Dodman said.

Nursing home staffers aren't concerned with explaining Oscar, so long as he gives families a better chance at saying goodbye to the dying.

Oscar recently received a wall plaque publicly commending his "compassionate hospice

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/death.cat.ap/


As someone who has three cats, I found this amazing

[gofer]

As Paul Harvey noted the cat is probably attracted to the warm electric blanket covering dying patients. The MSM wouldn't have a story if they told that part of it.

[buffalododger]

Cats are very much like the species of birds I have spent my life working with. They eat many types of carrion when they are feral. Just like so many other types of finely tuned creatures of the wild , they can look into a flock or group of other animals and almost immediately spot the old , the weakest , the youngest etc and base their decision on which one to follow , hunt etc.

Unlike many types of wild carrion eating creatures of the wild and opportunistic foragers of the Avian world , cats also are highly intelligent and cognitive.

They choose their loyalties wisely and once they have chosen to trust another species for a number of reasons they will not betray that trust. Still , their involuntary instincts remain a large part of their actions in their daily lives.

A dogs sense of smell allows it to track prey for many miles and it is used today by humans for many types of work that benefit humanity. Crows , Ravens , Magpies ,Vultures , they all have the ability to look at almost any other type of land dwelling animal and know whether to follow it until it drops and dies.

Even so , people that raise and handle crows , ravens , magpies understand that even though those particular birds of the covidae family will starve to death before sampling the flesh of the human that raised them , the person they imprinted with, their wild relatives would.

There are a number of examples of this peculiar behavior to be found in various articles printed in years passed when people still had the right to keep members of the corvidae family as pets and companions.

Cats , corvidae , both species are amazingly intelligent and loyal.
The cat in the nursing home would no more consider tasting human flesh then swimming across an ocean yet the uncanny ability to see the physical actions of the passing remains strongly embedded in it's instinctive nature of the wild.

[NCByrd]

This was on every news channel on TV..............and every show on each channel!!!!

[crazybird]

This was on every news channel on TV..............and every show on each channel!!!!

Yes it was.......just goes to show you how NORMAL things are suddenly "special". I know we have fought for DECADES for fair labor practices......now suddenly it's a RACE thing. The ILLEGALS are going to do AGAIN what was ALREADY done......just so they look like like they "contributed".......Irish did it.....Blacks did it....now they are going to do it AGAIN.....but this time.....it's special. Please....animals are better predictors of natures events....they "know" these things.....for whatever reason....it's their "INSTINCT". They just haven't been shooshed aside and had their behavior "modified" like the rest of us.

Golly.....I'd like to have a test where people.....viod of laws....were allowed to put their vote in....is this an illegal or isn't it? Is this a rapist or child molestor? Funny thing....this cat would probably be labeled a profiler...for noticing the obvious.


I had a butt ugly cat named Simone.....one blue eye...one green eye....he KNEW when I was sick....menstural cramps....he'd curl on my stomache and purr......migraine....he'd wrap himself around my head and gently lick my hair.....right at just the right spot....guess he was a "healer". Faking it or just wanting sympathy?.....he'd tear my house apart... Female in heat?....he was gone.....no questions asked.

[buffalododger]

Crazybird:>

Love your photo. It is refreshing to see the face of honesty in the young breaking through. Did you raise it ?

[swatchick]

I read about it in the paper and there were comments about it on line. That was somewhat humourous. I believe most animals can sense things as many did not perish in the tsunami and it has been noted that animals act oddly before earthquakes. I had one cat that would not leave my side when I was ill. She even followed me when I used the bathroom. Then I had another one that would act odd before a hurricane came. That year we got lots of hurricane watches and warning but many did not materialize. I noticed a difference in the cats behavior during those times and used her behavior to determine how much I should prepare. She was right on.

[crazybird]

Love your photo. It is refreshing to see the face of honesty in the young breaking through. Did you raise it ?

LOL.....found it on the internet. They always say ostriches stick their head in the sand and that's what I basicly did for too long....so it kind of represented how I felt. Not to mention I love the face on that.