Cat Predicts Patients’ Deaths.

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.

Oscar has lived almost all of his two years in the third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rhode Island. Most of the people he visits are unconscious, so his visits donâ€™t frighten them. Experts donâ€™t know what clues Oscar senses, but an animal behaviorist says the only way to really track his record of predictions is to carefully document how Oscar behaves with everyone. Link -via Arbroath

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July 26, 2007 at 11:05 am by Miss Cellania
Category: Animal

26 comments to "Cat Predicts Patients’ Deaths."

Miss Cellania
July 26th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I assume they have eliminated the possibility that the cat was killing the patients.
Dan
July 26th, 2007 at 11:12 am
I am sick of cats on neatorama
Sid Morrison
July 26th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Well, then you better hope they stop being Neat!
Matthew
July 26th, 2007 at 11:22 am
ur iz tmie, die nowz

k thx
Chad
July 26th, 2007 at 11:37 am
if that cat curled up next to me I would knock its ass across the damn room!
Some crazy dork
July 26th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Perhaps the ancient Egptians were on to something?

Lets get the cat memes out of our systems:
Im in ur lap, reapin’ ur solz.
I r serious reaper, this r serious work.
I can has soul now?
brb, going to afterlife. Dropin off, kthxbai!
Invisible psychopomp!
I see that what you died, thar.
Paul
July 26th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Some crazy dork wins official funniest neatorama comment ever….
Shane
July 26th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Angela Lansbury as a friggin’ cat!
Dave
July 26th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I AM THE DREAD CAT OSCAR!

I’VE COME FOR YOUR SOULSSSSS!
Ali S.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
@Shane

Wow, that has to be the best comment ever. Hehehehe…Murder She Wrote. Now it should be called Murder She Meowed.
Xopl
July 26th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
“This is not a cat that’s friendly to people,” he said.

No kidding…
Cluck
July 26th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Just more proof cats are evil. This adopted cat repays its owners by killing people!? Meanwhile Jake, a black Labrador, who was 10 months old with a broken leg and a dislocated hip, repays its owner by becoming a world class rescue dog.
MoniA
July 26th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
LOL Good one, Sid. This is cool!! I wonder how the cat does it.
Al
July 26th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
It’s …the Grim Reapurr
Rishi
July 26th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
oscar, please visit the white house and congress. also, go to mel gibson’s house. then bill o’reilly’s. i can give you my landlord’s address too if that’s cool
hearsetrax
July 26th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
dog owners R certified Sissies !!!

and I agree send Oscar to the White House
Lauren
July 26th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I’ve always thought that the reason behind this was that dying people hold really, really still. What cat doesn’t want a warm heating pad like that?
meg
July 26th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
I think he’s a pretty cute cat. Who would have thought he channels the grim reaper?
Lala
July 26th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
were they allergic to cats?
Ashley
July 26th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
If I were in a nursing home, I would want it to be one with a cat like Oscar. What more peaceful passing could you imagine than with a cat purring next to you? I imagine (though I am many, many decades away from nursing home age) that by that point, death might be a welcome relief, and having a cat next to me would be a comforting departure.

And no, Lala, they weren’t allergic to cats. He’s predicted all 25 of the deaths of patients that have died since he’s been there, and there is no way they were all allergic to cats.
Theresa
July 26th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Cats tend to pay attention to people who don’t look at them and who don’t make a lot of sudden movements and noises. Ever notice how cats seem to gravitate towards people who proclaim not to like cats? It’s because the cat hater’s avoidant behavior is welcoming in cat language.

I think I’d be more likely to believe this cat’s ability if he hung out in an elementary school and whichever kid he sat next to keeled over.

These people are in a nursing home. They’re already unconscious. Chances are their life expectancy isn’t long anyway.
Gaby
July 26th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I think they smell something in the air, from my experience the dead or soon-to-be-dead specially when they’re dying of cancer, they exude this very specific odour.
Novascotiaskier
July 27th, 2007 at 6:30 am
The CBC Show “As It Happens” interviewed the nursing home doc last night. Should be on their wesbite audio file from the first half of the show:

http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/20070726-aih-1.wmv

More details, including discussion on how many times the cat had successfully predicted death, including fooling the Dr.

-S.
Twitchings
July 27th, 2007 at 9:50 am
maybe the cat has a bit of the Andromda Strain on em……

Terry Prachet is even funnier now!!
Joey
July 27th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y69/heyitsmejoey/450_oscar.jpg
Alex
July 28th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Maybe we need to take a closer look at the nursing staff…

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