Strange but true
February 3, 2010 (Wednesday)
A cat named Oscar lives with patients in a nursing home specializing in dementia patients in Rhode Island. He has been a pet in the home for 5 years and during that time has accurately predicted the deaths of 50 patients. When Oscar comes into a room, hops upon the bed beside the patient and refuses to leave, it is almost certain the patient is about to die.
At times he was placed on the bed of a patient thought to be near death, but he jumped down from the bed and went to another room to be with a patient who soon died. He has been known to scratch and claw at doors so that he could be with the patients in those rooms. He is nearly always correct in his choice of patients.
Families are comforted by the cat’s behavior, as are the patients themselves. When families have been unable to be with their loved ones near death, they have felt the cat kept their loved ones from dying alone.
Dr. David Dosa has written a book about the cat, but does not give a scientific reason for the cat’s activities. None of the other five cats in the home is able to do what Oscar does. He thinks that the cat may be able to detect the scent of biochemicals produced by dying cells.
Just when we are very sure we have all the answers, along comes somebody like Oscar, raising questions we never thought about before. Life indeed is mysterious.
(Based on a story by Tom Leonard. Click here to read it.)