This is one pussy that can stay away from me

[Weyland]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007340506,00.html



A GRIM-REAPER cat has amazed medics — by predicting when nursing home patients are about to die.

Oscar the tabby curls up next to elderly residents in the last few hours of their lives.

His accuracy — seen in 25 cases in the past year — has led staff to call family once he chooses someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

University professor Dr David Dosa said yesterday: “He doesn’t make too many mistakes. Many families take solace from it. They appreciate the companionship the cat provides for their loved one.”

The phenomenon is described in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Oscar, two, was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre in Providence, Rhode Island, US.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds — just like the doctors. He’d sniff and observe patients, then sit beside those who would die within hours. Staff say most of the people who get a visit are so ill they don’t know he’s there.

Oscar has received a plaque commending his “compassionate hospice care”. But animal expert Nicholas Dodman does not believe Oscar is “psychic”. He said: “Maybe there’s a biochemical explanation.”