Not a pet you would want......

[Dragonlady8]

Cat plays furry grim reaper at nursing home
Oscar has predicted 25 deaths by curling up next to patient in final hours
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:56 p.m. ET July 25, 2007
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - 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.

His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

“He doesn’t make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die,” said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one,” said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

The 2-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The facility treats people with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He’d sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a few hours.

Aloof and businesslike feline
Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously and is generally aloof. “This is not a cat that’s friendly to people,” he said.

Oscar is better at predicting death than the people who work there, said Dr. Joan Teno of Brown University, who treats patients at the nursing home and is an expert on care for the terminally ill.

She was convinced of Oscar’s talent when he made his 13th correct call. While observing one patient, Teno said she noticed the woman wasn’t eating, was breathing with difficulty and that her legs had a bluish tinge, signs that often mean death is near.

Oscar wouldn’t stay inside the room though, so Teno thought his streak was broken. Instead, it turned out the doctor’s prediction was roughly 10 hours too early. Sure enough, during the patient’s final two hours, nurses told Teno that Oscar joined the woman at her bedside.

Furry harbinger of death
Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill they probably don’t know he’s there, so patients aren’t aware he’s a harbinger of death. Most families are grateful for the advanced warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put outside, he paces and meows his displeasure.

No one’s certain if Oscar’s behavior is scientifically significant or points to a cause. Teno wonders if the cat notices telltale scents or reads something into the behavior of the nurses who raised him.

Nicholas Dodman, who directs an animal behavioral clinic at the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and has read Dosa’s article, said the only way to know is to carefully document how Oscar divides his time between the living and dying.

If Oscar really is a furry grim reaper, it’s also possible his behavior could be driven by self-centered pleasures like a heated blanket placed on a dying person, Dodman said.

Nursing home staffers aren’t concerned with explaining Oscar, so long as he gives families a better chance at saying goodbye to the dying.

Oscar recently received a wall plaque publicly commending his “compassionate hospice care.”
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959718/

[pyrocasto]

That's pretty creepy. If I ever find a cat curled up next to my grandparents I might just have to shoot it.

[Neognosis]

He probably carries their souls off.

[Neognosis]

The cat is pulling out their life support plugs.

[jjaszkow]

[Commodore]

Is this him?

[oshensurfer]

haugy, nice.

[joebananas]

This is the sould stealing feline. He looks dangerous. Everyone has to be scared around this thing. If he sits next to you one would have to start to wonder.

[jjaszkow]

[Neognosis]

jjaszkow, yea.

I know that if ever end up in a place like that, a dog would be a wonderful comfort. And I could stay in shape trying to hunt down and kill the cat.

Cat sits with someone. They die. Therefore, killing that cat would impart imortality to the residents of that nursing home. Cat must die for the greater good!

[Dees]

I think it's great. gives the family some time to say good bye before there gone.

[Lop]

jjaszkow, i like the fact that you called the death cat a "companion animal"

[Neognosis]

I think animals can sense when death is approaching, no doubt.

[gswake]

[Neognosis]

[pyrocasto]

[jjaszkow]

Lop, they are great companions ... you just send them to people you don't like. Don't let them get too close of course.

[Lop]

jjaszkow, i just ordered 2 for my wife

[Skwake]

I saw that on the news last night, There was this little fluffy puppy playing with the cat chasing it around the hallway,
I laughed and said that dog would be without a face if it tried to do it to our cat, I swear it is half lion, mind you we did find it abandoned when it was a kitten hence we called it Feral
Pretty crazy though, wouldn't want that cat comin and sittin on my bed