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
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
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
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."
