THE CAT THAT CAN SMELL DEATH

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Newman

There are some things about animals we just don’t understand yet. Take Oscar, a prescient four year old cat living in a Providence Rhode Island nursing home. Oscar has consistently and reliably been able to sense when residents are approaching their final hours. He curls up next to them and won’t leave until they have passed. Dr. David Dosa wrote about Oscar in The New England Journal of Medicine saying that he has been accurate in 25 cases so far. Dr. Dosa also said that the relatives of residents take solace from the phenomenon and his companionship is comforting to those near him. Oscar was originally adopted by the staff as a kitten and this has been his home ever since. He makes his own rounds sniffing patients and looking them over. He curls up beside a patient and stays there. Some die a few hours later, some a couple of days. Sometimes, when he is not allowed to snuggle up on the bed with a dying patient, Oscar paces and meows outside their room. Its as though he knows it is his job to be there for comfort. There is a commendation wall plaque at the nursing home awarded to Oscar by the local hospice agency which reads “For his compassionate hospice care, this plaque is awarded to Oscar the Cat.” See “A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat” David M. Dosa MD NEJM Volume 357:328-329.