Somebody just told me about Oscar, of course I question everything I read and hear, but I know cats are special so I had to share
A CAT that detects when nursing home patients have just hours to live has accurately predicted up to 50 deaths.
Oscar curls up next to dying patients and scratches at their door if staff try to stop him from being near them.
He spends his days pacing from room to room at the nursing home where he lives and refuses to spend any time with the elderly residents unless they are close to death.
The unsociable cat, now five, was adopted as a kitten at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre in Providence, Rhode Island.
His unusual gift was first revealed in 2007, and staff at the home are now so confident of Oscar's ability that they alert family members if he shows an interest in a patient.
In one incident when nurses placed Oscar on the bed of one patient they thought was close to death, he ran out and went to another room.
His judgment proved right as the second patient died that evening while the other lived on for two more days.
Experts have now studied the records of the home's patients and found that Oscar is rarely wrong with his predictions.
Dr David Dosa, a geriatrician at Brown University, said: "It's not like he dawdles. He'll slip out for two minutes, grab some kibble and then he's back at the patient's side. It's like he's literally on a vigil."
In his book, "Making rounds with Oscar: the extraordinary gift of an ordinary cat", Dr Dosa offers no solid scientific explanation for the cat's behaviour.
But he suggests that — like dogs — Oscar is able to detect ketones, which are biochemicals given off by dying cells.
From :
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2835787/Oscar-the-cat-can-smell-death.html
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