Oscar the cat, or grim reaper?

[tamra]

I saw this on the local news last night as well. sad, but strange . I think Oscar could be "taking the patients out". LOL he goes in, person dies right after, so he's a suspect.

but true some cats do have more instincts than usual, esp. when it comes to earthquakes.

-----Original Message-----
Subject: FW:Oscar the Cat
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:25:42 -0700

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... hub=Health - www.ctv.ca'

the video story is also on CNN as well.

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[Font size=3 face=c color=Blue]When death comes calling, so does Oscar the cat

* Cat has uncanny record of curling up with dying nursing home patients
* Staff members say families usually find cat's presence comforting
* Cat better at predicting imminent death than staff, observer says
* New England Journal of Medicine essay describes phenomenon

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- 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 the cat doesn't like to be put out in the hall when a patient is dying.

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

"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said 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.

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.

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 advance 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."[/font]
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/death. ... newssearch - cnn.com'

[hellifiknow]

tamra,
I'd be bitching if I was one of them patients..."I asked for death by pussy and them motherfuckers brought me a cat!"


this is going to sound stupid...death smells like gunpowder, no shit...worked the night shift in many hospitals and I noticed it and I know other nurses who did too...and it was really strange because sometimes you'd just barely smell it and a few moments later a code blue would be called in another part of the hospital or you'd find out that someone who was dnr died around that time...if you smelled it strong you better go check and see which one of your patients was going tits up, never failed...it's kind of freaky but I suppose if there is such a entity as death it would only be natural that it smelled like gunpowder with all the deaths by firearms, wars and whatnot....it was something you never wanted to talk about because people would think you insane but it was also amazing to see the look on someones face when they noticed it for the first time.

never paid much attention but I suppose there might have also been the smell of shit from all those people hit by buses. ;p

[tamra]

hellifiknow,

ROFLMFAO!!!! BUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

but as the lawyer for the hospital: when you asked for death by pussy, did you specify WHICH type?? huh-lowwww???

and that's interesting, I've never been around a just dead or immediately near death person. just funerals. *don't make me start hanging out at hospitals just to be nosy*

[smjmcomic]

tamra,


Provendence R.I.!!!! MUTHA FUCKERS!!!!! Sorry thats where I wan born I can't help it.


Do you thinks theres anyway this cat could be loaned to me for a weekend or 2?

[tamra]

smjmcomic,

but I should borrow him and have him hang out with my mafia kitty. that would be interesting. Oscar stands next to creature Missy's about to take out.

[EddieHill]

tamra, Oscar is the grim reaper. They should clone that cat and we could make a lot money taking out insurance on people that are just going to die . Oh, what an asset those cats would be.

[Anditsdeeptoo]

tamra,

It's a government conspiracy, the cat's been shanking these folks in their sleep.

I looked at my cat after reading this story and asked the muphucka why she couldn't do anything newsworthy. She then peed on the carpet.

[Visitor]

Anditsdeeptoo,

but check your cat's pee. it might be filled with an antidote to cure something. maybe her piss will bring the persons Oscar killed back tp life.

so see, your cat was trying to help you out.

Tamra

[bcddjjsc690]

tamra,
Can we kitten-nap Oscar , bring him to the White House and get him to shuggle up with Bush & Cheney ?

pretty please , !!

[tamra]

bcddjjsc690,

but I ain't going nowhere near that cat. and for all we know Cheney is probably dead already. we haven't seen him in a while and no one's been shot lately