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  • Death Cat

    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.

    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.

    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 care."
    Cat Of Death
    I wonder if anyone has given thought that maybe it is the cat that is killing people?
    Last edited by THL; 26 Jul 07,, 05:39.
    "To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch

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  • #2
    Originally posted by THL View Post
    I wonder if anyone has given thought that maybe it is the cat that is killing people?
    LOL, like sleeping on their faces maybe
    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

    Leibniz

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    • #3
      Originally posted by THL View Post
      I wonder if anyone has given thought that maybe it is the cat that is killing people?
      That was my first reaction.
      "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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      • #4
        Funnily enough one of my four cats is called Oscar!! A 10 yr old blue male Abyssinnian. As a dedicated, and I mean dedicated, lap cat there is no way that he would curl up next to the dying as it would just mean a search in several hours for another warm lap. He likes to settle in "for the duration".

        Then again, I am not surprised at the cat's intuition, if that is what it is. Cats can be like that.

        Jonathan

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        • #5
          Yeah right, or maybe its just some crazy nurse, bumping the old dears off, and framing the cat

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Parihaka View Post
            LOL, like sleeping on their faces maybe
            Reminds me of the Stephen King movie "Cat's Eye".
            “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix
            "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
            sigpic

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            • #7
              Interesting story.

              Cheers!...on the rocks!!

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              • #8
                If looks could kill

                When I first saw the title of this thread I thought it was about Max, THL's cat with the "death glare".;)
                Reddite igitur quae sunt Caesaris Caesari et quae sunt Dei Deo
                (Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's)

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                • #9
                  I would hate to see that cat curling next to me, but I would have no problem with it curling next to my in-laws.
                  Last edited by wkllaw; 03 Aug 07,, 00:24.
                  Those who can't change become extinct.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Bob Jones View Post
                    Yeah right, or maybe its just some crazy nurse, bumping the old dears off, and framing the cat
                    A purr -fect crime!!..but lets paws for thought. No!.it's not fur to blame the nurse

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                    • #11
                      I a-clawed your humor Dave...
                      "you have enemies, good. That means you stood up for something, sometime in your life"

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                      • #12
                        Peanuts, get your coat

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