The cat who predicts death

You may have heard about Oscar, a cat who could predict when a terminally ill patient was about to die. The cat’s abilities were trustworthy enough to merit notice in The New England Journal of Medicine (2007). 

Oscar had been adopted by the medical staff at a nursing home in Rhode Island. Most of time he wasn’t particularly friendly. He would spend his days hiding in someone’s office. But when someone was on the brink of death, out he would come. He would sniff the air, crane his neck, and curl up next to the unlucky patient. Over several years, the cat had done this next to more than 50 patients, every one of whom died soon thereafter.

Nobody knows how Oscar does this, but the author of the journal article wrote, “No one dies on the third floor unless Oscar pays a visit and stays a while.” The staff is confident enough about Oscar’s abilities that they notify the families of the selected patient to come for a last visit.

Here’s how one doctor describes one instance of Oscar’s behavior: “Ralph Reynolds was dying, and we were trying to do everything that we could to make him as comfortable as possible. We believed that he was close to death and one of the aides put Oscar on the bed and announced to us that if the patient were dying, Oscar should be present. Oscar looked at all of us as if we were mad and ran out of the room. Ralph hung on for another 36 hours. But, sure enough, just four hours before he finally passed away, we found Oscar, pacing up and down outside his closed door. When we opened the door, he dashed straight for the bed and leapt up next to Ralph. He curled up there and refused to budge. A few hours later, Ralph was gone. Oscar didn't leave his side until the funeral director came.” 

And a family member reported: “During the last week, when my mother had fallen into unconsciousness, Oscar would come into the room, look around or jump on to the bed for a moment and then leave. However, on the night my mother died, I went to her room and saw Oscar lying on her bed. Two hours later, my mother took her last breath. Oscar never moved until she died. Then, he got up casually, as if nothing had happened, and left the room.”

As far as I know, Oscar is still on duty. I don't know if our cat can do this. It would be hard to tell because she sleeps on me anyway. I guess I'll just have to be surprised.

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.