This is one cat you probably don't wanna see

[D-Frag]

Grim Reaper cat, hmmm, makes ya wonder aye?

Cat predicts deaths of nursing home residents

By Ray Henry
The Associated Press
Jul. 25, 2007 02:12 PM

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/5315/0725deathcatid2.jpg
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - 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.

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

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

-- Science writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

-- On the Net:

New England Journal of Medicine: http://content.nejm.org/

[vtwin_gary]

ahhhhhhh!
i'm not sure i even want to see his picture.

[morea]

Wow.

I wonder if it's like the way that some dogs can be trained to sniff out cancer.

[budafist]

It's a cute cat at least. I bet it comforts the dying rather than freaks them out.

[Red Kittie Kat]

hmm .. might not want him to come cuddle up with me :D

[AlexNJ210]

its funny, they neglect to mention the fact that animals have heightened senses, especially for the well-being of other animals/people. Cats ive had growing up have always sensed when i was upset, angry, hurt with a cut, or was imobile for some reason. The cat grew up in that place, im sure it learned to sense the difference between someone who is well and someone who is not.

[morea]

^ very good point. My cats always come to lay down with me when I am not feeling well.

[Liquid Layers]

Yeah, what they don't tell you is the cat has this bad habit of sleeping on your face.

[Drazan]

no that would be meepers. Paws on one side next to my ear, paws on the other side next to my ear and his belly wrapped around my head. Odd waking up that way.

Actually when I started getting sick before I knew it was cancer, squeek curled up in my arms when I went to sleep. Now even after everything is all better, he still curls up next to me for about five minutes or so. As soon as I'm drifting off - he jumps down.

As far as the cat in the article, i can definitely see it as a good thing for letting loved ones know. But then again, it could just be the heated blanket thing.

Jade

[Samakimoto Graphics]

*shivers*

Puts to nought the saying "The one thing no one ever expects is Death"

[PrintDriver]

Morea, my cat is the same way when I'm sick (which isn't often). But she's one of those cats that hates having her fur mussed and hates to cuddle so often it's just a paw that is touching - to let you know she is there. On any other occasion, just being in the same room is usually enough for her. You know you are justified in staying home sick if she is actually on the bed. LOL!

Animals have acute senses. And most of them can learn. There is no superstition involved.

[AlexNJ210]

^^^agreed

[Logo-Mechanix]

And I always thought death came in the form of a skeletal type of guy wearing a black robe and carrying a scythe.

[morea]

haven't you read Terry Pratchett's 'Reaper Man', Logo? ;)

[SpugNothuson]

Reaper Man is an awesome book!

This thread makes me miss my dog. He always knew when I was sick or just emotionally down. I miss hugging my black lab, he gave proper man hugs too.

[carter the artist]

Tea Leaves.

You can read into it any way you want.

[Logo-Mechanix]

I've never read that book Morea but I am way overdue for a good read I'll have to check that out.

[captain spanky]

for some reason that news story made me think of Greyfriars Bobby.
Reaper Man roXx0rz
so did Mort
but i don't know which i liked best.

[morea]

Mort was good, too.

I also really liked "Moving Pictures" from Terry Pratchett. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't read much of his newer stuff.

[SpugNothuson]

I'm occasionally ashamed to say that I own the entire collection in Hardback. :D

I'm particularly partial to Nanny Ogg, she has a similar sense of humour to GDFers. :p

[Craig B]

Mort was a great book .. I can't remember if I read Reaper Man. His collaboration with Neil Gaiman, "Good Omens" is absolutely classic though.

[WannaBrie]

heehee!

[seamas]

*Throws a wet blanket on this story*

http://www.slate.com/id/2171469/

This article pareses the story a bit. Not everything in the NEJoM is a peer-reviewed study, and the "Cat who can sense death" was never intended to be taken as a professional medical assesment of the cat, as the story was only intended as a piece of "creative non-fiction".
In other words there was no accounting of the cat's sucess rates, etc, etc.

[carter the artist]

*Throws a wet blanket on this story*

http://www.slate.com/id/2171469/

This article pareses the story a bit. Not everything in the NEJoM is a peer-reviewed study, and the "Cat who can sense death" was never intended to be taken as a professional medical assesment of the cat, as the story was only intended as a piece of "creative non-fiction".
In other words there was no accounting of the cat's sucess rates, etc, etc.

this is the kind of thing I was discussing in my thread about urban legends. Things like this get published in a Medical Journal, people read WAY tooo much into it and start creating 'facts'. Then people seriously start believing that animals predict death. it starts out innocently enough, but the next thing you know we are burning innocent people on actual pillars as witches.

[frankster]

The husband was reading Thud! a few weeks ago and I pointed out to him one of our kid's books that he'd not read yet. A mate gave it to my oldest daughter for Christmas two years ago. It's called "Where is my cow?" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where's_My_Cow%3F) and is all about Sam Vimes reading a bed time story to his son. He loved how it tied into the book he was reading. It's just a matter of time until one of the kids starts saying Bugrit now though :rolleyes:

[seamas]

this is the kind of thing I was discussing in my thread about urban legends. Things like this get published in a Medical Journal, people read WAY tooo much into it and start creating 'facts'. Then people seriously start believing that animals predict death. it starts out innocently enough, but the next thing you know we are burning innocent people on actual pillars as witches.

Yes, this is no knock on the New England Journal of Medicine. It's reputation is sound -perhaps TOO sound, as everything published in it is often taken as gospel, when there is a very stark diference between a "story" and a case study or research result.

[Liquid Layers]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1277610,00.html

Apparently now there is a dog that can predict death. I guess its really only us lame humans who can't. That's why squirrel's never try very hard to cross the street, they know their time is up.

[icekitty37]

Wow, this is really interesting! Kinda sad, but I just think he's a smart, caring little kitty!

[cornfed]

I think the cat surely just smells something we don't. My dad (not my hairdressers cousins aunt on the other side!) is a preacher and sees lots of people who are hours from death. He's often come home and said that someone only has a few hours. How does he know? Something he calls the death rattle. I've never known him to be wrong.

Wikipedia:
A death rattle is a gurgling or rattle-like noise produced by the accumulation of excessive respiratory secretions (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Respiratory_secretion&action=edit) in the throat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throat).
Those who are dying (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death) may lose their ability to swallow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallowing), resulting in such an accumulation.

[mrathee]

yep.. that is creepy.

I actually saw something about this on BBC. BBC of all places.

gosh.

[SpugNothuson]

Bugrit
Millennium Hand and Shrimp. :D

[captain spanky]

keeping in the Pratchett vein... i've got a signed copy of Small Gods. Yep i saw him and yep he was still wearing his hat inside. :D

[SpugNothuson]

I'll never look at turtles the same way again. Oooh thread linkage, maybe the cat is a small god and his powers are slowly showing through.

I've yet to meet the Pratchett but I'm a proud owner of all Discworld novels in Hardback, except one. I still need Eric but that's exchanging hands for about £500 now. :(

[Virgo Nightingale]

I think the cat surely just smells something we don't. My dad (not my hairdressers cousins aunt on the other side!) is a preacher and sees lots of people who are hours from death. He's often come home and said that someone only has a few hours. How does he know? Something he calls the death rattle. I've never known him to be wrong.

Wikipedia:
A death rattle is a gurgling or rattle-like noise produced by the accumulation of excessive respiratory secretions (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Respiratory_secretion&action=edit) in the throat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throat).
Those who are dying (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death) may lose their ability to swallow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallowing), resulting in such an accumulation.
My grandmother had that rattle for a couple days before she passed. At first, she could sorta cough and clear it up a bit, but after a while she was unable to. One of the hospice nurses explained that in a person's last hours, the lungs produce extra mucus in a last ditch attempt to protect the lungs from any debris that might be inhaled.

[Liquid Layers]

I love that picture of the Avocado Virgo, I just walked through a whole field of them. None ripe though.

I've got that rattle, I always just called it smoker's cough.

[Kool]

I love that picture of the Avocado Virgo, I just walked through a whole field of them. None ripe though.

Another avocado fact that lives in my head for some reason. Avocado's only ripen after they have been picked (or fall off) Never while still on the the tree. :)

[Kool]

Here's your 100 post taco Liquid Layers. :D

http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/3144/taco3fi.gif

[cornfed]

Yeah, virgo, my husbands grandmother had it too. I didn't know thats what it was. I thought it was due to her congestive heart failure.

[AlexNJ210]

so how, again, did this thread get from killer hospice cat to avacados?

[Kool]

All threads are about avocados now aren't they?

[Virgo Nightingale]

I've gotten that rattle too from bronchitis, which I used to get all the time as a kid, in addition to bad asthma. It was really freaking me out when I was visiting her on her last night. Between the sound and watching her basically gasp for breath, I was having flashbacks of my own experiences dealing with that. It didn't help that every few minutes, her breathing would stop, and if it didn't pick back up right away it would run through my mind "Has she just gone?" :(

[Liquid Layers]

Here's your 100 post taco Liquid Layers. :D

http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/3144/taco3fi.gif

Awesome, I hope its full of Guacamole! (Which is my favorite spanish word to say)

I just realized what a slow poster I am. only 100 posts in over a year, I better step it up.

[Virgo Nightingale]

I am not GuacBoy, but here's slice of avocado doin' a little striptease for ya!

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/62/52/23035262.jpg

[Two-Toe Tom]

congrats on your 100th post, liquid layers!

[Liquid Layers]

I am not GuacBoy, but here's slice of avocado doin' a little striptease for ya!

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/62/52/23035262.jpg

Wow! Now that's Hott! I'm glad I brought all my stacks of $1 bills.

[morea]

so how, again, did this thread get from killer hospice cat to avacados?

*points at Virgo*


All threads are about avocados now aren't they?

I'll make sure that you get another copy of that memo. :D

[Virgo Nightingale]

It really all started when Don Cheadle wanted to know if he could get a taco at 3 posts. Talk about "snowball effect"!