Oscar The Death Cat

[LadyKay]

Found this on CNN. Oscar the cat who lives in a nursing home can predict when a patient is going to die. He curls up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy has been observed in 25 cases and 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.

See Link For Full Story. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/death.cat.ap/index.html

[TrixieGothGirl]

What are they doing letting a cat live in a nursing home to begin with? *scratches head*

Interesting way to predict how a person is going to die though.

[LadyKay]

What are they doing letting a cat live in a nursing home to begin with? *scratches head*

Interesting way to predict how a person is going to die though.

My mother worked at a nursing home and they had a cat who lived there. It is good for the patients to have a fluffy friend for comfort and companionship. It is not uncommon. Many of the patents do not have family who visit them. The cat who lived at the nursing home where my mother worked would wonder from room to room visiting who ever he liked. The patients loved him. No word on rather or not he knew when someone was near death.

[Kit Kat P]

Hmmm I just think my cats may kill me in my sleep

[Homicidalheathen]

LOl me too! They suffocate babies ya know.

I read in cosmo where there was this lady who had this little tiny dog that kept licking a mole she had on her arm or someplace and even tried chewing at it and kept whinning at it and barking at it.

She thought she was waaay too young at like age 20 for a melanoma to develop despite her dads predisposition to skin cancer......but got it checked because of the pooches concern.

It was cancer and they got it before it spread.

[Onyx]

Hmmm I just think my cats may kill me in my sleep

heh.

When I heard that story that was my first thought too - that the cat is killing people.

On second thought, I think the cat can sense the end for them and is trying to comfort them. When my kids or I are feeling ill she always chooses the sick person to sleep with and cuddles up and is really sweet (and she's not usually a cuddly cat at all).

[pomba gira]

What are they doing letting a cat live in a nursing home to begin with? *scratches head*

Interesting way to predict how a person is going to die though.

Cats are common in nursing homes now... they have a calming effect on the residents. Even if they don't have a live-in kitty, a lot of nursing homes have therapy animals brought in on a regular basis. Interacting with animals provides a lot of well-documented benefits for people with physical, mental or emotional illness or trauma.

I have read about pets who could predict when their humans were about to have a seizure... in fact I had a book which I never finished, called "Dogs Who Know When Their Owners are Coming Home" or something like that... among other things it talked about pets reacting to or predicting various health issues.

[Fierce Critter]

This is both morbid and moving.

I love cats. I love old people. I think this is cool.

[Onyx]

Wow. Someone sent me another article and this one has a bit more detail (and a really cute picture of the kitty).

I don't really buy the witchcraft thing, but I do believe there are a lot of unexplained things in this life. I read this paragraph and it makes me think of the cat seeing the angel of death approaching and then leading the person into the beyond. Strangely comforting mental picture.

quote from the article

"Laurie Cabot, the 'official witch' of Salem, Massachusetts, where the infamous 17th century witchcraft trials were held, has another theory.

In her view, Oscar is acting as a 'familiar' - the term witches of old used to refer to the cats who were their constant companions - which means that he is in psychic communication with the patients he visits.

"He knows they are going to die because he is picking up on their brainwaves," says Cabot, a descendant of a family that arrived in America on the Mayflower with the Pilgrims. "Science has found that the brainwaves of cats never go into Beta mode, they are always in Alpha. And it is in the Alpha range that all psychic things happen.

"This little cat Oscar knows all the patients in the unit and he is trying to help them, just like the cats that I've always kept will curl up on my chest and try to heal me if I feel upset or am ill. In this case, though, Oscar is not trying to heal, he is clearly trying to help these people walk over into the other world."

Cabot might find further support for her theory in the fact that Oscar does not leave the patient after they have died, preferring to stay with the body until the undertaker arrives. Then those who have cared for the patient escort the corpse out in a procession to honour the patient. Oscar, because he lives in the locked dementia unit, is not allowed off the premises, but he always walks with the funereal procession to the door, and watches as it leaves."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1770

[Crazed Vampyress]

all i could think was, how many old people does this cat scare when he's just looking for someone to scratch his belly... the cat walks in and the resident freaks out "oh no!"

[n0Mad]

Here's another theory: the sense of smell.

Smell is extremely underdeveloped in humans as we rely mostly on sight, then hearing. Animals on the other hand and cats especially have a superb sense of smell. All animals, even humans, release pheromones into the air. Every mood we experience has it's own unique pheromone. As our moods and even health conditions change, so does our smell. Oscar is able to pick up on these subtle nuances and for whatever reason is attracted to the ones released within hours of death.

Still though, I think I might change my screen name to "Furry Harbinger of Death".

[sass_in_the_pants]

Weird. That's cool, but so weird.

[Jadis]

I read this story yesterday. I think it's an interesting theory. Really, a great story.

[pomba gira]

all i could think was, how many old people does this cat scare when he's just looking for someone to scratch his belly... the cat walks in and the resident freaks out "oh no!"

The article I read (link from Yahoo news) said that Oscar is usually a pretty aloof kitty and doesn't seek a lot of attention or usually cuddle up to people... also remember this is a dementia unit so most patients are prolly too far gone to know what's going on.

Spook, that was my first thought too... that Oscar is picking up some pheromone emitted by the dying. We are really just beginning to understand the effect of pheromones & scent cues on humans, and there's no doubt that other animals are even more attuned to scents.

The brainwaves theory is interesting, too... that's been suggested as the reason cats & dogs can sometimes "predict" epileptic seizures.

[glc]

you know what? They played that story tonight on the tv, in Australia....

What the hell? why does that make news on the other side of the planet? we must be desparate!

[LadyKay]

you know what? They played that story tonight on the tv, in Australia....

What the hell? why does that make news on the other side of the planet? we must be desparate!

Uh...slow news day in the land down under maybe?

[n0Mad]

you know what? They played that story tonight on the tv, in Australia....

What the hell? why does that make news on the other side of the planet? we must be desparate!

Just be glad it's that and not something like, "27 murdered by office janitor who locked the workers in the building and axed the water main filling up the building and drowning everyone."