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This cat predicts death...accurately

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  • This cat predicts death...accurately


    http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/dea...ion=cnn_latest
    Saw this story on TV and in the news. This cat is a good death calculator.
    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.

    Oscar the cat doesn't like to be put out in the hall when a patient is dying.

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

    "He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

    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.

    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.

  • #2
    Re: This cat predicts death...accurately

    So the angel of death is actually a cat. Crazy.
    Last edited by State_fan; 02-20-2008, 02:37 PM.

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    • #3
      Re: This cat predicts death...accurately

      I'll tell you what, if Oscar tried to curl up next to one of my loved ones I would throw his ass out of there. It sounds like this cat is bad luck.
      Pretty cool story though.

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      • #4
        Re: This cat predicts death...accurately

        I don't know, if you pick it up, might hang on to you!

        You can't teach an old dog new tricks, but you can never teach a stupid dog anything.

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        • #5
          Re: This cat predicts death...accurately

          Didn't that cat used to hang out in the NCC office?

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          • #6
            Re: This cat predicts death...accurately

            ******************SMACK WARNING******************

            I heard the cat was scratching and curling up on the extreme SE corner of a map of SD.
            "The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all."
            -Leo Rosten

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