NationStates Jolt Archive

US cat 'predicts patient deaths'

A US cat that is reportedly able to sense when a nursing home's residents are about to die is baffling doctors.

Oscar has a habit of curling up next to patients at the home in Providence, Rhode Island, in their final hours.
According to the author of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the two-year-old cat has been observed to be correct in 25 cases so far.
Staff now alert the families of residents when he sits down next to their ailing loved one.
"He doesn't make many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," David Dosa, a professor at Brown University who carried out the research, told the Associated Press news agency.

'Premonitions'

Oscar was adopted as a kitten at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre.
The cat is said to do his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses at the home, but is not generally friendly to patients.
Although most families are grateful for the warning Oscar seems to provide, some relatives ask that the pet be taken away while they say their last goodbyes to their loved ones.
When put outside the room, Oscar is said to pace up and down meowing in protest.
Thomas Graves, a feline expert from the University of Illinois, told the BBC: "Cats often can sense when their owners are sick or when another animal is sick.
"They can sense when the weather will change, they're famous for being sensitive to premonitions of earthquakes."
A doctor who treats patients at the home said she believed there was probably a biochemical explanation, rather than the cat being psychic.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6917113.stm

My bet is that he's a serial killer. Already notched up 25 kills.

Anyone ever see Pet Cemetery?

I have two cats. Male and female, they take turns going outside. Never together, inside or out.

Instead of prowling the neighborhood, they sit out back on a tree stump and just watch.

When they come in, they hang out with anyone who is home.

They know when someone is coming to visit.

About 10 minutes before ANYONE shows up at the front door, the inside cat will go to the front door and sit there, watching it. At the same time, the outside cat will go sit on the front porch.

We have a perfect correlation for this so far. We joke that they are a cat hive mind, and are psychic.

Wow, usually this board is behind a few days compared to my other.

This is all a plot by the feline overlords, they're culling the sick and dying so that when they take over there will be a healthy slave population.

Cat reaper!

Oscar looks like a fairly upstanding citizen. I'll go with "psychic." I've heard that cats and other animals have the ability to sense sickness.

Now, if Oscar were a Siamese, he'd probably be a serial killer.

Cat reaper!

Probably sucking the souls out of people when no one is looking.

Cat: Psychic or Serial Killer?

Both. He kills them with his mind.

Valkyrie Cats. *nod*

Cats are guardians of the underworld.

I can't believe no one has posted a lolcat yet. :p

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/Flaw3dLegacy/IWillEndYou.jpg

I can't believe no one has posted a lolcat yet. :p

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/Flaw3dLegacy/IWillEndYou.jpg

http://home.blarg.net/~wayule/graphics/cat_voices.jpg

:)

It probably just wants to eat the corpses, and hangs around so the meat is fresh.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44021000/jpg/_44021641_oscar_ap203b.jpg

Cute little thing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6917113.stm

My bet is that he's a serial killer. Already notched up 25 kills.

Cats are serial killers with style, that's why I love them.

Anyway, out of the humorous side, I've read that usually dying people change smell. And cats usually have a good sense of smell, so no need for psi-abilities here.

Maybe he's just a necrophile.

Cats are serial killers with style, that's why I love them.

Anyway, out of the humorous side, I've read that usually dying people change smell. And cats usually have a good sense of smell, so no need for psi-abilities here.

Maybe he's just a necrophile.
Most people are dying in the home.. they're not going to change smell within a few hours before being dead. As the article says.. he has experts baffled.


I'm sure the usual crowd will be hell bent on finding a "rational" explanation like they try and do for everything.

http://i0005.photobucket.com/albums/0005/icanhascheezburger/2007/7/26/8/128299379001090828Yoursoulismin.jpg

I love the Cheezburger Factory...

I thought it was a rat.... SQUEEK.

Oh great,... time warp, makes me look like a jackass evenmore.

NEW YORK (AFP) - He is a two-year-old cat and looks innocent enough. But at the nursing home where he lives in the US state of Rhode Island, Oscar has developed a reputation as an angel of death.

Since being adopted as a kitten by staff at the advanced dementia unit of Providence's Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Oscar has revealed a rather morbid tendency to pick which patient is going to die next.

According to David Dosa, a geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Oscar makes regular rounds, looking in on patients and giving them a quick sniff, before either moving on or settling down for a cuddle.

So accurate have his predictions been, that as soon as the white and tabby harbinger of death curls up with one of the patients, staff immediately start summoning family and clergy to the soon-to-be deathbed.

"No one dies on the third floor unless Oscar pays a visit and stays awhile," Dosa wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"His mere presence at the bedside is viewed by physicians and nursing home staff as an almost absolute indicator of impending death, allowing staff members to adequately notify families," he added.

"Thus far, he has presided over the deaths of more than 25 residents."

Dosa did not offer any explanation for Oscar's uncanny powers of prognostication, which patients were not yet believed to have spotted.



Linky (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070726/tod-health-us-animals-f62056d.html)

World, meet the Grim Reapers pet.

This are death cat

http://www.mopjuice.com/images/stories/2006-8/evil_cat01.jpg

This is death cat!
http://www.mopjuice.com/images/stories/2006-8/evil_cat01.jpg

I'm sure the usual crowd will be hell bent on finding a "rational" explanation like they try and do for everything.

You have a better option?

I heard about that last night. I think it's cool! I bet other animals can do that too, it's just not as obvious when they don't live in places where lots of people are dying.

This are death cat

http://www.mopjuice.com/images/stories/2006-8/evil_cat01.jpg

Ew! Eeeeeew! Augh, that is scary.

Cat reaper!
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/7482/reapcatov9.jpg

I found the death cat.

http://users.commspeed.net/davmar/toonces1.jpg

"See I told you he could drive."

"TOONCES!!! LOOK OUT!!!"

*car crashes*

Linky (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070726/tod-health-us-animals-f62056d.html)

World, meet the Grim Reapers pet.

Best thread title of the month :D I bow in your presence.

http://http://i0005.photobucket.com/albums/0005/icanhascheezburger/2007/7/26/14/128299607786774514IMADEYOUAG.jpg

Awesome! +1 for cats!

Oscar looks like a fairly upstanding citizen. I'll go with "psychic." I've heard that cats and other animals have the ability to sense sickness.

Now, if Oscar were a Siamese, he'd probably be a serial killer.

Why would him being Siamese make him a serial killer?

I congratulate Death Cat on his effort to cull those on the Social Security paysheet. Save us some money, Death Cat! :p

Why would him being Siamese make him a serial killer?

Serial killers are a big thing in Siam. They changed the name for PR purposes, but those in the know never forget.

That's nothing! My cat can predict when it's time for supper! :p

But my Siamese is adorable and sweet! *cuddles Amelia*

Just be sure to stay on its good side. ;)

I don't know if to feel sad or disturbed.
A day in the life of Oscar (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/4/328)

Serial killers are a big thing in Siam. They changed the name for PR purposes, but those in the know never forget.

But my Siamese is adorable and sweet! *cuddles Amelia*

Serial killers are a big thing in Siam. They changed the name for PR purposes, but those in the know never forget. So the Siameese kill a few, it's the white persians that plot world domination.
In fact the real evil behind a Bond villian is the White Cat he owns.

Surely we need to carry out some kind of quantum thought experiment with this cat. If we put a dying person in a steel chamber would the cat be able to determine whether the person was alive or dead or both?

The cat obviously watched Bubba Ho-Tep and thought it was a great idea.

"ASSHOLE! ASSHOLE!"

If someone kills the cat, will all the old people's souls released make a lot of light and noise?

He's a Japanese spy sent to kill all the surviving soldiers that might have seen too much way back when, and are only now willing to reveal the dark secrets of the torture chambers hidden deep below the rice patties.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6917113.stm

My bet is that he's a serial killer. Already notched up 25 kills.

Psychic. He does not want the people to die alone. He is a wonderful companion to those who are about to pass this life into the next. May the Lord Bless him.

Psychic. He does not want the people to die alone. He is a wonderful companion to those who are about to pass this life into the next. May the Lord Bless him.

You aren't Corny?

This is death cat!
http://www.mopjuice.com/images/stories/2006-8/evil_cat01.jpg

Finally a cat I like.

Ew! Eeeeeew! Augh, that is scary.

This have more teh evils.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/Flaw3dLegacy/Cathulhu.jpg

On second look, perhaps not quite, but still.

By the way, this is why Siamese are evil.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/Flaw3dLegacy/EatedUrSoul.jpg

:p

my cat is totally psychic, he knows when I am trying to do something important and then he comes to sabotage me.

also, growing up I used to have a cat that would hide under my bed about 3-4 hours before it would storm.

Why would him being Siamese make him a serial killer?

I'm guessing you have never had a Siamese cat. If they're anything like mine, then...well, let's just say the word "evil" doesn't do them justice. Evil, aloof, indestructible, predatory, and stupid - any of them fits.

And I don't think I've ever seen a Siamese that is of a healthy weight. They're either rail-thin or they weigh 20 pounds.

The cat is probably just diseased and infecting his victims with something.

The cat is probably just diseased and infecting his victims with something.

Nicely wielded Occam's Razor there.

I look forward to an episode of House based on this. Zoonoses is such a lovely word.

all cats are serial killers. our cat skins its victims and leaves parts of mouse face on the step in sacrficial patterns. i am fairly disturbed by these rituals

that cat is probably performing black masses with those oaps bodies

all cats are serial killers. our cat skins its victims and leaves parts of mouse face on the step in sacrficial patterns. i am fairly disturbed by these rituals

that cat is probably performing black masses with those oaps bodies

ROFL ROFL