Every cat owner knows how cats can comfort you after a bad day. When you get home completely washed out, they jump in your lap and force you to caress them. As you pet your furry friend, you can feel how your tension fading away. But not all cats are like that. Some do not fancy human company as much, and Oscar is one of them. He lives on the third floor of Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
He is naturally not a very sociable cat, but his presence next to a patient indicates impending doom.
Since he was adopted by staff members as a kitten in 2005, he managed to predict deaths of more than a hundred patients in the nursing home’s advanced dementia unit. He is naturally not a very sociable cat, but his presence next to a patient indicates impending doom. Doctors even tested his ability by putting Oscar next to a presumed soon-to-be-death patient. He jumped off the bed and went straight across the hall to an elderly man, who passed away in the next two hours. The death-sensing cat experienced a severe allergic reaction in 2013 itself, but he managed to recover.
Oscar the Cat, Credits: AP Photo/Stew Milne, File
Doctors believe that he is simply responding to a pheromone or a scent. Even though it is a creepy gift, families are usually glad that Oscar is around. He cuddles next to soon to be gone souls and makes their last journey a bit more pleasant. He also offers huge support to family members, as they can spend the last hours with their loved one. The death-sensing cat is getting old itself, but his rounds and contribution to patients and their loved ones will never be forgotten.
H/T: The New England Journal of Medicine
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