This is Oscar and he's getting quite a reputation for tricks. Or, one trick.He can predict when someone's about to catch the next bus to Deadtown.
Oscar lives in a nursing home, so he has plenty of opportunity to perform. He's so good at hearing the approach of time's winged chariot that when he curls up with a patient, the staff calls the family to gather round. Because that patient usually has less than four hours to pack up the old kit bag.
"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," said Dr. David Dosa, who writes about Oscar and his grim talent in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The staff noticed that Oscar wandered the unit and when he sat down with a patient that person would, within a few hours, join the choir invisible.
According to Dr. Dosa, Oscar isn't normally a friendly cat. And while he's given some families comfort, he also spooks the bejesus out of others and rightfully so.
Scientists are trying to figure out how Oscar knows the reaper is near. The theories range from scents patients give off before the Big Sleep, the behavior of nurses around a terminal patient, or maybe it's just the heated blanket the staff puts on a dying person.
I've lived with cats for years and my money's on the blanket.
But the next time a kitty cuddles up to you, you might want to get your affairs in order. That cat might know something you don't.
9 comments:
I would think someone your age would use a more sensitive term than "Deadtown".
I blogged about guns today. You might relate.
Jim
My Grandmother's nursing home has a cat just like this. Sherk would often sit with those that were at the end of their lives.
He also accompanied the funeral attendants as they removed the body from the premises.
"According to Dr. Dosa, Oscar isn't normally a friendly cat."
After studying that photo, I am not at all surprised by that fact.
I was waiting for you to post on this story.
I'm going with learned behavior - at least that's how my cat had reacted whenever she sensed A Bad Thing Coming.
But then again ...
During last days of my father at hospice, I was standing outside his door, trying to concentrate on dr and the priest, and obviously deeply saddened. I felt a gentle nudge under my loosely hanging right hand and it was lifted up. Someone's pet Saluki stayed pressed against my side with its head holding up my hand. I never saw, heard the dog approach down the hall. Just what seemed at deepest emotion to have some gentle care and for it to come quietly and stay there through it. Hey, don't tell me they don't know. And I'm not one for signs, miracles, etc. ...
Jeanne
My money's on the cat. He's a mass murderer.
Admit it, Terrenoire: you just posted that title to boost your Google hits.
Some scientists are becoming more and more convinced of the ability of animals to detect illness in humans. There are dogs that can tell when a person is about to suffer a heart attack, an epilectic seizure, any number of things. I've even heard of dogs that can tell the difference between a malignant and a benign mole or melanoma.
I've not heard of cats having the same abilties, but it wouldn't surprise me.
I read this story on Yahoo News and the local TV station also carried it. But they didn't mention Bob Sherrill's passing. I know they only cover what sells, so that really worries me about our society. A lifetime of talented industriousness overshadowed by a damn cat that's just doing what cats do. I wonder if telling this would help the local police see the fruitlessness of giving me speeding tickets?
This sounds crazy but several months agai, a friend's dog who had never given me (or anyone) the time of day, sat on my lap all night. At night's end, I went home with a terrible stomach flu.
Sure you're gonna say, he gave it to me. But I think he sensed I was sick and providing comfort.
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