Oscar the cat appears to be making waves in a nursing home in the US. It seems that he is aware that when residents are in their final hours of life and curls up next to them.
According to the author of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine the cat has been correct in 25 cases so far, but there is no indication out of how many total. But staff at the home now alert families when Oscar settles down next to a resident.
The staff state that Oscar is not an overly friendly cat but appears to “make rounds” like the doctors. But although most families are grateful for Oscar’s “notification of impending doom”, some ask that the cat be removed while they say their final goodbyes to their loved ones. When he’s placed outside the room, Oscar is said to pace up and down meowing.
David Dosa, a professor of Brown University who carried out the research on Oscar, said “He doesn’t make many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die.”
Thomas Graves, a feline expert from the University of Illinois, told the BBC: “Cats often can sense when their owners are sick or when another animal is sick.
“They can sense when the weather will change, they’re famous for being sensitive to premonitions of earthquakes.”
A doctor who treats patients at the home said she believed there was probably a biochemical explanation, rather than the cat being psychic.
Maybe it’s just me, but how would you feel if you were a resident at this nursing home with a cat predicting death every so often? Personally I’d want it gone! What do you think?
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