[Jenna]

The scientist in Dr. David Dosa was skeptical when first told that Oscar, an aloof cat kept by a nursing home, regularly predicted patients' deaths by snuggling alongside them in their final hours.Dosa's doubts eroded after he and his colleagues tallied about 50 correct calls made by Oscar over five years, a process he explains in a book released this week, "Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat." The feline's bizarre talent astounds Dosa, but he finds Oscar's real worth in his fierce insistence on being present when others turn away from life's most uncomfortable topic: death.

He's accurate enough that the staff — including Dosa — know it's time to call family members when Oscar stretches beside their patients, who are generally too ill to notice his presence. If kept outside the room of a dying patient, he'll scratch at doors and walls, trying to get in.Nurses once placed Oscar in the bed of a patient they thought gravely ill. Oscar wouldn't stay put, and the staff thought his streak was broken. Turns out, the medical professionals were wrong, and the patient rallied for two days. But in the final hours, Oscar held his bedside vigil without prompting.
Dosa does not explain Oscar scientifically in his book, although he theorizes the cat imitates the nurses who raised him or smells odors given off by dying cells, perhaps like some dogs who scientists say can detect cancer using their sense of scent.

More here:
Scientist profiles cat who predicts death - TODAY Health

[pgg]

I'm surprised some health board hasn't thrown a fit about a cat inside the place

[2 Blue 4 U]

Originally Posted by pgg

I'm surprised some health board hasn't thrown a fit about a cat inside the place

Some nursing or long term care homes allow pets, good for the patients/residents. As long as it is disclosed before admission and there are no patients with pet allergies I think it is a good thing. A lot of the elderly have no family members close by or visitors so they get the next best thing a loving pet, an unconditional friend (which in some cases is even better then family).

[ohionarc]

I've been told that "Darth" aka my wife, can predict the same thing.............she tells me all the time I'm gonna die if I keep up my crap!

[Car 4]

My wife's older Irish Setter, Brigett, knows when we are sick and dotes on us till we are better.


Car 4

[Jenna]

Originally Posted by pgg

I'm surprised some health board hasn't thrown a fit about a cat inside the place

Maybe they're afraid that if they tried, the cat would come and cuddle up to them....

[WyomingSunrise]

I wonder if I were ill and in a nursing home with this cat, if it would be comforting or terrifying to have the cat lay with me? I guess it would depend on how ill I was, if I'd made peace etc.

[Captain America]

If someone would just shoot that damn cat nobody else will die.