Oscar the Cat Predicts Nursing Home Deaths.

How strange is this.

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.

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.

And there's plenty more to read on that link provided, if it takes your interest i recommend you read the whole article.

Apparently it doesn't freak out the selected patient, as they are usually too ill to realise the cat with them.

Also understandably, some families have put the cat outside, while the patient is nearing his end, the cat, however, paces up and down outside.

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.

How freaky is that?
Does he sense something we dont?



Link.

There have been numerous cases of this sort of thing. Dogs excessively sniffing areas that have cancer, animals settling around the dying and sharing the person's last moments. It could be more mundane in that they can smell or alwise detect failing organ systems, etc. Or it could be that they can sense the approach of death itself and want to be comforting. Whatever the case may be, it's still interesting.

If it's true about this cat, I'd hate to have him curl up around me. I love cats, but not this one...don't want him bringing death on me man.

Originally posted by TheGreySwordsman
It could be more mundane in that they can smell or alwise detect failing organ systems, etc. Or it could be that they can sense the approach of death itself and want to be comforting. Whatever the case may be, it's still interesting.

I think the article suggests, that maybe he can pick up a scent, that's familiar, the smell of death

Maybe animals have a sixth sense?

I think that animals have a sixth sense, yes. I also believe that humans do, too, since they are technically animals. They are just taught to supress it, and therefore things of a psychic nature often go unrecognized, because people are taught not to accept them, or to write them off.

Animals don't do this. On top of the sixth sense, they also do have heightened senses. They can sense, hear, see things we can't. Dogs have been known to sniff out cancer. Certain pet animals have warned their people of strokes, or other dangers.

Animals can also be rather empathic in nature. They can tell how you feel, even if your actions aren't obvious in any way. And they act accordingly. It does not surprise me in the least that a cat could tell when people in a nursing home were about to die, and then be with them and give them some love before they do. That's not a foreign concept, at all.

Chris... he doesn't bring death. It's a nursing home. These are older people who are probably about to die. The cat doesn't kill them. He merely goes to them to comfort them when they are about to die, and therefore, people can kind of predict who's about to die, because of what he does.

I still love hearing stories about these kinds of things, though.

To add, here is another animal in the news recently with this "Gift"?

Creepy canine Scamp can apparently tell when residents at a long-term care facility in the US state are in their final hours.

The morbid mutt camps out in their rooms and stands guard by their bedsides.

He is also said to be able to sense grief.

Link.

When I showed this to my sister she said something that I had forgot and that happened with her when she was born.

My sister asphyxiated when she was born (and she was born after an 8 months pregnancy instead of the usual 9) and for some days nobody could tell if she would survive or not. During this time, my mother's cat was always beside her, never leaving the room, and only left her side at the time she was not in danger, returning then to his usual activities.

Also, some years ago, one cousin of mine had three cats, and one of them got some disease, all people could see that he was not in his normal condition, and while he was sick the other two cats (his mother and his sister) would lay down one on each side, maybe to keep him warm.

So, with this information, I am convinced that cats can really sense something we (maybe) cannot and so they can notice that some person (or some other animal) is in a bad condition and may be dying.

Could this be related to the fact that they are predators, as dogs? Sensing the weaker and dying animals may help hunt or avoid them.