Somehow this cat seems to know...unexplainable but he has been on target and the facility immediately calls family the minute he settles in to cuddle with a patient. BD
Oscar the cat, who resides at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, has an uncanny ability to sense when a patient is about to die. (Globe Staff Photo / Dina Rudick)
PROVIDENCE --Oscar the cat makes his grand entrances just as life is about to leave.
A hop onto the bed, a fastidious lick of the paws, then a snuggle beside a nursing home patient with little time left. Oscar's purr, when keeping close company with the dying, is so intense it's almost a low rumble.
Oscar makes regular "inspection" rounds of the unit, sauntering in and out of patient rooms -- as if checking on the condition of the occupants. But he never joins them for a snooze.
Until.
"He only shows great interest in individuals when they are about to die," said Dosa. As for Oscar, Dodman said, "perhaps [he] senses some change in the metabolism or mental aura of the dying person.''
Somehow this cat seems to know...unexplainable but he has been on target and the facility immediately calls family the minute he settles in to cuddle with a patient. BD
Feline intuition - The Boston Globe