I just heard about this, thought I'd share...

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 US cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," said Dr David Dosa.

He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in 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 two-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre. 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 would sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would end 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 was not eating, was breathing with difficulty and that her legs had a bluish tinge, signs that often mean death is near.

Oscar would not 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 said most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, grey-and-white cat are so ill they probably do not know he is there, so patients are not aware he is a harbinger of death.

Most families are grateful for the advanced 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 is certain if Oscar's behaviour is scientifically significant or points to a cause. Teno wonders if the cat notices telltale scents or reads something into the behaviour of the nurses who raised him.

Nicholas Dodman, who directs an animal behavioural 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.

It is possible his behaviour could be driven by self-centred pleasures like a heated blanket placed on a dying person, Dodman said.

Nursing home staffers are not 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."

source
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Cat-pr...5339124060.html

i always claimed cats are mysterious, intelligent and beautiful creatures...
long live the cats!!!

Thank-You Iwona!

It would be interesting to find out if they do this and what the results are.

Wow, That's very intresting
Good find Sammy!
I just wouldn't want the cat curl up next to me, lol.
I wonder if there are other times that this cat will lay next to a person...
when they aren't dying.
Maybe he's freaked a few people out?
haha

Good find Sammy

I've seen this before and I've been wracking my brain over it. Had to have been at least 5 years ago or more I saw this same thing on some sort of cat documentary. What's really driving me nuts is trying to figure out if it's the same cat. The way I remember it the cat was all black, but photos I've seen of Oscar don't match that description. So is there another nursing home cat out there doing the same thing? The show I watched was talking about how cats in nursing homes are common because it's a medical fact that spending time relaxing with a cat will lower blood pressure. They were showing this nursing home with 4 or 5 cats in it, and then they focused on a black (I think?) aloof cat that would only spend time with patients when they were about to die.

On a semi-related note, I also read an article about a cat who can predict when his owner is going to have a epileptic seisure. The cat stares intently into the guys face, and then runs off to go get his wife and warn her.

Cats certainly are mysterious creatures!

Nice find! Odd, now we must get alot of cats in every hospital so we know when people are about to die.

I thought i had seen something similar before also about possible paranormal abilities in animals.
I have see something about dogs that will act strange(predict)
when the owner is about to have a hart attack or seizure
Dogs can also be use to SNIFF tumors in people..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_cancer_detection

I saw a show about the cancer sniffing dogs on tv, this elderly man had a cancer and he didn't know it. His dog kept nudging at the spot and bitting at it. After getting bit bad he went to go stitched and decided to check it, found out he had cancer there.

yes...i think i may have seen that one also..or something very similar..

Wait, it was a woman.
http://www.goodnewsblog.com/2006/02/21/can...to-hall-of-fame

i'm not surprised that many animals have such abilities
sometimes it's a matter of their well developed senses, like birds that can take long flights across continents and always land in the same exact place...
but i'm sure many of you heard about animals escaping from the place where earthquakes occure, long before it actually happens...they sense danger and try to save their back
i heard some people were even thinking about using their abilities to warn dwellers so they could evacuate early enough

I found out that elephants on a tour in Thailand back at the time of the giant earthquake and tidal wave, they moved in land as they sense the wave coming.

thats neat, ive heard that before a major disaster, rats run through the streets trying to get out of the area before the disatser begins. Remember the near meltdown in Springfield when all the rats were running from the nuclear power plant?

he's the archangel cat!

Ok, and the number 13 makes its way into the story, I guess its Oscar's lucky number as well.

Interesting, spooky but interesting that this cat has a highaccuracy rate among the people he picks out.
I'll have to look for my old wives tales and omens book, there are a couple of other animals that are considered harbingers of death.

Thanks for sharing, Sammy!

I think i heard someone talking about this the other day, but i couldn't hear them very well so i guess i tuned it out. It's really interesting though... especially since i work in a nursing home.

The guardian angel of cats? Hmm.

LOL yes it's possible you know ? perhaps during the day it takes the form of a cat and later on oh god that's just crazy.. hey.. the thought of a cat knowing whe people will die IS crazy.. I wonder if there's a scientific explanation for it.. like hunting dogs..

I just found this on BBC too... how bizarre... and more to the point... HOW??? It seems so accurate!

Cats cant predict death..we can cause it though, just a gentle but firm paw placed over the oldies mouth...when no one is looking..mwahaha..
oops, i've said too much....

LOL that's just too funny man, when I was a kid and there were cats in my house and I played with themtoo much they'd bite my hand and scratch it and I'd be all laughign they're so cute even when they fight

This is Lilith, she is watching YOU Glammy....she has special powers.....

that cat's beautiful, though it looks like it wants to flick you off brodda