Has anyone else seen this?

Cat Predicts Deaths Of Nursing Home Residents
Jul 27 2007 7:20AM
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - 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 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 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.

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 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 said 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 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'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."
---
Science writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
---
On the Net:
New England Journal of Medicine: http://content.nejm.org/

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Man I would be throwing stuff at it if I saw that cat come into my room!

 

My mother-in-law was telling me about it last night! I would have a heart attack if that cat jumped on my bed. They wouldn't have to worry about calling my fam. Animals can really be amazing.

 

At exercise this morning, that's all they were talking about. Man if he even looked like he was thinking about coming into my room I would throw everything I could find at him. We joke around quite a bit in at exercise and 2 of us were using stepper machines next to each other. One of our friends came in and I said, "Look what the cat slept with last night!" Another guy walked by and the guy next to me said, "Here Kitty, Kitty!!


Seriously though, the staff says that it is really a big help to them. It allows them to contact the family and gives them a chance to be at their side during the end. They said that is very calming for both the patient and the family. They suspect that the cat either smells something or senses something when they are about to expire. The cat was adopted as a kitten and grew up in the nursing home. But I still wouldn't want him coming into my room!

 

I saw it on TV last night. Maybe for someone at that age and in the declining health condition they are in it is a welcome relief to have Ocsar jump in bed with them.

 

Heather called me at work to tell me about this Kitty last night .It is
to weird,but comforting to think about in a way but would be very unsettling.

 

I've heard about stories like this before. It is strange to think that animals might be able to predict more than just the weather!

I think this prediction might be a little over the top, but then again, you never know.

 

Thats amazing, I too saw the TV story. It seems that I heard somewhere a while back that a dog had been trained to sniff out some type of cancer. There must be something going on there that we really ought to know more about.
Tom

 

I saw that in the newspaper!! Isn't it weird what animals know? I guess I wouldn't want that particular kitty to get all cozy with me.

Now, the really weird thing: When I was sick with an ongoing migraine, my hubby and I would set the alarm for ten minutes early. This was so we could ask the cat if I could go in to work that day. I know you guys are laughing your behinds off at us. But . . .

This cat ALWAYS knows when I'm sick. In fact, he gets quite clingy with me. Well, as a teacher, I wasn't about to let a minor thing like a migraine keep me from my kids. They needed me! We began to notice that some mornings Whisper did everything he could to keep me in the house. He was constantly underfoot; He would lay on top of my clothes and I had to fight him for them; (Some mornings I actually pulled out a whole different outfit.) When I sat down to put mt shoes on, he was in my lap immediately. It got to a point that my husband would lock him up so I could get ready for work. It was a 45 minute drive, so I really couldn't afford to be late getting on the road.

Several times that I went to work with this migraine, I couldn't make it the whole day. Some mornings, I didn't even get halfway there before the pain was so bad I ended up in a ditch on the side of the road. Other mornings, I made it through just fine.

MY husband started keeping track of the days I DIDN'T make it through a whole day and comparing those days to Whisper's behavior in the mornings.

Creepy But True: the mornings the cat tried to keep me home were the days I didn't make it. The mornings he let mo go, I made it the whole day.

To this day, if that cat is more "lovey" than normal with me, my hubby takes my temperature. lol.

 

I heard about Oscar on the news yesterday too. Thought it was kind of creepy but I guess it would be good for families to have the last 4 hours with their loved ones.
That's neat about your cat April! I had a German Shepherd who was an excellent pregnancy predictor...she knew long before I did that I was pregnant-all 4 times!!