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The End Is Near: Hospice Cat Senses Death

Oscar picks patients just about to die with uncanny accuracy

By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 26, 2007 5:40 AM CDT

(Newser) – An upscale nursing home in Rhode Island is home to a cat that can sense impending death, the Boston Globe reports. Oscar, whose domain is the dementia ward, shows little interest in patients who are ill but not dying. But when he curls up in a bed, the patient usually dies within hours. Caregivers take Oscar's cuddling as a signal to call loved ones.

When shooed from the room by family members, the cat rubs the door, demanding to be let back in. "As a scientist, I want to offer a biological explanation for this, but I can't," said one doctor. The geriatrician who reports the phenomenon in today's New England Journal of Medicine says simply: "This is a cat that knows death."

Oscar the cat
Oscar the cat   (Associated Press)
Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I., waits outside a patient's room, Monday, July 23, 2007. 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...
Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I., waits outside a patient's room, Monday, July 23, 2007. Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for...   (Associated Press)
Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I., walks past an activity room at the facility Monday, July 23, 2007. Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up...
Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I., walks past an activity room at the facility Monday, July 23, 2007. Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny...   (Associated Press)
Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, RI, is seen Monday, July 23, 2007.  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....
Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, RI, is seen Monday, July 23, 2007. Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home...   (Associated Press)
Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I., strolls past residents in the hall, Monday, July 23, 2007. Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to...
Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I., strolls past residents in the hall, Monday, July 23, 2007. Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack...   (Associated Press)
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