Cat at nursing home has talent for predicting death
Curls up to patients who only have a few hours left
DEATH could come in a furrier form than most people imagine.
A hospice cat at a nursing and rehabilitation centre in the US has a talent
for sensing when patients are going to die – and curls up beside them for
their final few hours.
Oscar the cat’s inside knowledge is so reliable, workers have begun alerting
patients’ families when he chooses to settle on their bed, the Associated
Press reported today.
"Many family members take some solace in it," Dr David Dosa of Brown
University told the news agency.
"They seem to appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their
dying loved one."
Dr Dosa wrote an essay on Oscar’s macabre talents – observed in up to 25
cases at a Rhode Island nursing home – in the New England Journal of
Medicine.
The 2-year-old feline, who was adopted as a kitten, has even received a wall
plaque commending his "compassionate hospice care", AP reported.
When Oscar chooses a patient, it usually means they have only a few hours to
live. # – Prahladananda Swami – 2/8/07