Grim Rea-Purrr: the cat that can predict death

That is exactly what my cat looks like.

o_O

The fluffy, two-year-old, grey and white brindled pet was adopted by the dementia unit at the home in Rhode Island and named by its residents after a famous American hot dog brand.

Such a cute kitteh! I want him with me when I die.

Really, this isn't surprising. My cats always know when I'm upset or sick, and they get really concerned about me and snuggle more than usual.

This is like a hero cat, though... going around the nursing home providing a friend to whoever needs one most. It's so sweet!

I am death cat!! Destroyer of Worlds!!

Has anyone ever had a pet that ran away and tried to hide in a closet or cupboard or drawer when you were upset? I have, but that particular kitty we stole from our neighbors who abused it, so it understandably had some issues.

I have Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Smell of Death" in my head now after reading that article.

People who abuse animals should be strung up with their own intestines.

I most definitely agree. The cat ended up being able to spend time (without freaking around) with me & my roomie. I don't think the neighbors ever even noticed their cat was gone.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Smell of Death"

Skynyrd title = "That Smell"

...and now back to the kitty.

It's a serial killer cat!

Speaking of abused: I do have an Attack Cat. She was found by an ex-girlfriend when she was tiny (the cat, I mean), and had been abandoned and had some kind of skin condition and had to be bathed a lot, which she did not take well to. She learned early that claws hurt people and hissing and swiping is a fine defense against these large, soft-fleshed creatures. She's great with me and a small select few other people, but is generally distrustful of strangers, and if she's in a room with a lot of people she will hide. And if you try to coax her out, no matter who you are, she his hiss and growl like nothing you've ever heard, and will, if pressed, draw blood. I tell people this upon meeting her. "She ain't bluffing." Friends refer to her as Demon Cat or Dragon Cat. It's hard to explain to them that this same cat, when I go to bed at night, jumps up, purrs like a Harley, and nearly suffocates me trying to get me to scratch her ears more.

Obviously, this sinister cat is killing the patients himself when backs are turned. He should be put down.

I like the idea the cat's a spirit guide, like the coyote in the Simpsons.

Which now has me visualising an old person yelling "IN YOUR FACE, SPACE COYOTE!" and then dying.

He's a purrderer.

IN UR NURSIN HOME

EATIN UR SOULZ

Strange. When our dog, Basiel, was dying, our other dog just avoided him. She didn't acknowledge his presence at all anymore (which seems to be typical behavior for dogs).

Yes, you see, this is why I prefer cats to dogs. Cats REVEL IN HEAVINESS.

I've been having nightmares about Cathsoggua Oscar showing up on my bed, looking at me expectantly. I bet he is like a Komodo Dragon in this regard.

Yesterday a local cat made it in the news here by eating the hemp its student owner had grown at home. I wonder how this was ever found out, did the owner inform his cat to the cops?

The cat had a glazed look in his eye, and was overheard to say, "The ongoing WOW is happening right NOW." So the neighbors called the cops.

Oscar's tally is now up to 50

Cat predicts 50 deaths in RI nursing home
A cat with an uncanny ability to detect when nursing home patients are about to die has proven itself in around 50 cases by curling up with them in their final hours, according to a new book.

By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 7:42PM GMT 01 Feb 2010

The tortoiseshell and white cat spends its days pacing from room to room, rarely spending any time with patients except those with just hours to live

Dr David Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor at Brown University, said that five years of records showed Oscar rarely erring, sometimes proving medical staff at the New England nursing home wrong in their predictions over which patients were close to death.

The cat, now five and generally unsociable, was adopted as a kitten at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre in Providence, Rhode Island, which specialises in caring for people with severe dementia.

Dr Dosa first publicised Oscar's gift in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. Since then, the cat has gone on to double the number of imminent deaths it has sensed and convinced the geriatrician that it is no fluke

The tortoiseshell and white cat spends its days pacing from room to room, rarely spending any time with patients except those with just hours to live.

If kept outside the room of a dying patient, Oscar will scratch on the door trying to get in.

When nurses once placed the cat on the bed of a patient they thought close to death, Oscar "charged out" and went to sit beside someone in another room. The cat's judgement was better than that of the nurses: the second patient died that evening, while the first lived for two more days.

Dr Dosa and other staff are so confident in Oscar's accuracy that they will alert family members when the cat jumps on to a bed and stretches out beside its occupant.

"It's not like he dawdles. He'll slip out for two minutes, grab some kibble and then he's back at the patient's side. It's like he's literally on a vigil," Dr Dosa wrote.

Dr Dosa noted that the nursing home keeps five other cats, but none of the others have ever displayed a similar ability.

In his book, "Making rounds with Oscar: the extraordinary gift of an ordinary cat", Dr Dosa offers no solid scientific explanation for Oscar's behaviour.

He suggests Oscar is able - like dogs, which can reportedly smell cancer - to detect ketones, the distinctly-odoured biochemicals given off by dying cells.
Far from recoiling from Oscar's presence, now they know its significance, relatives and friends of patients have been comforted and sometimes praised the cat in newspaper death notices and eulogies, said Dr Dosa.

"People were actually taking great comfort in this idea, that this animal was there and might be there when their loved ones eventually pass. He was there when they couldn't be," he said.

love this cat

God bless Rhode Island.

Some video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jsMbrH5bdQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cqiylGLAvg

IT'd be better if it had a meow that sounded like "HE AIN'T GONNA DIE, HE JUST NEEDS MORPHINE, DAMMIT!!"