If this cat curls up by your side...be very afraid :p

[Ree]

Found a link to this in a friend's LJ.
Apparently, Oscar the cat was adopted by a nursing home, but he has this uncanny knack for knowing when patients are about to die, and will curl up by their side all during their last hours.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/...bcW_y8_96s0NUE

[blas]

Although a tad creepy, at least those poor lonely people have some company in their last few hours!

[Ree]

Yes, it's creepy, yet beautiful at the same time.

I actually saw a show that was supposedly reality based and it was about a dog that seemed to predict when people were going to die.

Maybe there's something in that.

[Broomjockey]

Well, animals can sense things like earthquakes, so maybe there's something different about someone about to pass that animal senses can detect?

But Blas is right, it's nice those people get some company for the end.

[NightAngel]

I've worked in a Nursing Home and I have a very acute sense of smell. Rooms where someone recently died have a certain 'Death Smell'. It's not necessarily a bad smell but a smell nontheless. I'd guess that Oscar, having a more acute sense of smell than humans, can smell the changes in the body as it's winding down.

I wouldn't call Oscar a "furry Grim Reaper" as they did in the article. I would call him an Angel of Companionship.

[Soulstealer]

Well, animals can sense things like earthquakes, so maybe there's something different about someone about to pass that animal senses can detect?

Maybe, although when you live in a nursing home chances are higher that the human in the bed will die soon.

[MystyGlyttyr]

You know, if a human were doing that, they'd be investigated for murder about ten bodies ago. And there's been a few times I've woken up and my cat is looking at me like he's waiting on the arsenic to take effect...

The cat's a serial killer!

[Aldous]

Am I the only person who when seeing that cat would be screaming "GET THE F*** OUTTA HERE!!!! I'M NOT GONNA DIE!!!!" and then die of a heart attack brought upon by stress. And then the cat wins.

[Lil Bunny]

I find it terribly sweet that they have "someone" there for them! My kitties know when I'm sick. When I got home from the hospital with my DVT, Kitty would lay on my leg and just gently purr while Hattie stayed by my side pawing me every so often as if to ask "You okies?" I love those lil shits.

*sigh*

[Ree]

Maybe, although when you live in a nursing home chances are higher that the human in the bed will die soon.

True, but according to the story, the cat is very aloof and unfriendly most of the time. It only seems to be the dying patients that he clings to, and only in the hours before their death.

The number of correct instances causes one to think that there may be more to it than just coincidence.

[Broomjockey]

Heh, found out this story was even in our local paper today. Musta been a slow news day

[AFpheonix]

"Heh heh heh.....evil overlord, now I will wing you to your doom! Mua hahahahaha!"

!

"Hey, don't kick me out, I wanted to watch him die! Curses....."

[XCashier]

I've worked in a Nursing Home and I have a very acute sense of smell. Rooms where someone recently died have a certain 'Death Smell'. It's not necessarily a bad smell but a smell nontheless. I'd guess that Oscar, having a more acute sense of smell than humans, can smell the changes in the body as it's winding down.

That's what I thought when I read the story, that Oscar could smell the chemical changes in a dying person. Probably the same for the dog Ree mentioned.

Domestic animals do have strong caring/parental instincts, much better than we give them credit for. It's good of Oscar to comfort those people in their final hours.