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Oscar the cat
- Thread starter telynn
- Start Date
I believe that artcle 100%! I truly believe they have a sixth sense.
Last September, my DH (only 30 at the time) and I got our 1st kitten, Titus. About a month later, my DH developed a terrible cough. Every night Titus would lay down on the right side of my husband's chest purring. Even if my DH was sitting up, Titus would climb up his shirt to lay there. Two months later, we found out my DH had a tumor the size of a grapefruit exactly where the cat had been sitting.
My husband endured 5 months of chemo and radiation. Titus was his little angel the entire time. When he lost all his hair, Titus would curl around his head to keep it warm. When he was so sick that he couldn't get out of bed, the kitty would lay there with him purring like a little motorcycle. I'm telling you ... it was amazing!
My DH is doing fantastic now! We're in the process of introducing kitty #2, Kaylie, to our Titus ... but that's another saga!
Last September, my DH (only 30 at the time) and I got our 1st kitten, Titus. About a month later, my DH developed a terrible cough. Every night Titus would lay down on the right side of my husband's chest purring. Even if my DH was sitting up, Titus would climb up his shirt to lay there. Two months later, we found out my DH had a tumor the size of a grapefruit exactly where the cat had been sitting.
My husband endured 5 months of chemo and radiation. Titus was his little angel the entire time. When he lost all his hair, Titus would curl around his head to keep it warm. When he was so sick that he couldn't get out of bed, the kitty would lay there with him purring like a little motorcycle. I'm telling you ... it was amazing!
My DH is doing fantastic now! We're in the process of introducing kitty #2, Kaylie, to our Titus ... but that's another saga!
This is a great article. It's so nice to see good things like this about our little kitty critters!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/...e_st/death_cat
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/...e_st/death_cat
My babysitter told me about this this morning. I knew it would be on TCS!!
It's kindof cute, kindof creepy (but in a good way).
It's kindof cute, kindof creepy (but in a good way).
I JUST read that article and was gonna post it here, haha (yeah, I'm a college grad who's still jobless... wake-up time is usually about 11am
).... I think it's incredible and do believe they've got the ability to sense things like that... I was I guess kinda glad to read the patients are usually too out of it to know the cat is predicting their death - sad that the people are in that state, but I couldn't imagine knowing the cat has that ability and then have it come curl up with me! Good thing this isn't Oliver's "thing"... if it was, I'd die 800 times a day... ah, he's such a snuggle bug
I believe 100% that animals know things like that.
I've always thought that since they have such a keen sense of smell that they probably pick up on any small change in the way someone or even another animal smells when they're sick or dying.
I've always thought that since they have such a keen sense of smell that they probably pick up on any small change in the way someone or even another animal smells when they're sick or dying.
I read that article on MSNBC.com
Very interesting... I hope people don't get too freaked out about it.
Very interesting... I hope people don't get too freaked out about it.
I heard about this on the news this morning, but it didn't surprise me a bit. I know Tailer senses when I'm not feeling well, and he goes out of his way to comfort me. Also, several years ago, when I got the news my cousin finally lost his fight with AIDS I was bunnysitting a friend's rabbit. When the call came that rabbit came and sat next to me the whole time, and when I broke down she tried to comfort me. She spent much of the next week keeping an eye on me. She was such a comfort to me that after she left DH decided that I needed a full-time bunny of my own.
This story hits home. Oscar is not alone.
Christmas Eve 2002, Nana was brought home on hospice. Every day and night Lucky stayed by her feet. He only left her when the visitors came. He was the only cat out of 7 in the household that stayed with her. Everyone else was afraid and stayed out of the living room.
In her last hour the cats gathered around her bed as if to say goodbye. Just minutes before she passed every cat left the roon including Lucky.
I call Lucky Nana's "special" kitty.
Christmas Eve 2002, Nana was brought home on hospice. Every day and night Lucky stayed by her feet. He only left her when the visitors came. He was the only cat out of 7 in the household that stayed with her. Everyone else was afraid and stayed out of the living room.
In her last hour the cats gathered around her bed as if to say goodbye. Just minutes before she passed every cat left the roon including Lucky.
I call Lucky Nana's "special" kitty.
No wonder the Egyptians (and people all over the world!) worship cats.
They are very intuitive! I think Oscar is mighty special. I loved the story.
They are very intuitive! I think Oscar is mighty special. I loved the story.
Isn't that incredible?
I had breast cancer 4 years ago. Once in awhile Gray One my cat and Lucy and Jesse my dogs will take a sniff of that breast. It makes me nervous.
I had breast cancer 4 years ago. Once in awhile Gray One my cat and Lucy and Jesse my dogs will take a sniff of that breast. It makes me nervous.
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Oscar's amazing, and a real blessing in particular for those people crossing over without any family there.
Cats are both intuitive and sympathetic (I believe even the most aloof are secretly sympathetic), and I've noticed over the years that when my mother is ill (I take care of her because she has heart problems), at least one of my cats will give her extra attention. Sinbad, while she was still here, then Tiger, and now Frosty.
A scientist named Rupert Sheldrake has written a fascinating book about his studies of animals' intuition or psychic abilities. The book is Dogs that Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home (subtitled "And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals"), and you can read a review of it here:
http://www.workingdogweb.com/DogsThatKnow.htm
A lot of cats are mentioned in the book, too, and I was amused to read that vets report cats are particularly good at sensing when their owners (whoops, make that "staff") are planning to take them to the vet, and disappearing.
Sheldrake's website is
http://www.sheldrake.org/
and he has links to his papers on unxplained powers of animals on this page:
http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Pa...als/index.html
By the way, I don't think Oscar is the first cat living in a hospice or nursing home who's been seen giving special attention to patients who are very close to death. I have very vague memories of seeing a story about another such cat on a TV news magazine many years ago -- this could very well have been back in the 1980s; I don't think it was any earlier than that -- but I don't recall which nursing home it was, or which TV program (most likely Dateline or 20/20), and I'm sure there wasn't anything on the program about anyone having kept exact track of how good the cat was at realizing which resident or patient was close to death. It's great that Oscar's behavior has been so well documented by a physician and the nursing home staff.
Cindy
Cats are both intuitive and sympathetic (I believe even the most aloof are secretly sympathetic), and I've noticed over the years that when my mother is ill (I take care of her because she has heart problems), at least one of my cats will give her extra attention. Sinbad, while she was still here, then Tiger, and now Frosty.
A scientist named Rupert Sheldrake has written a fascinating book about his studies of animals' intuition or psychic abilities. The book is Dogs that Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home (subtitled "And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals"), and you can read a review of it here:
http://www.workingdogweb.com/DogsThatKnow.htm
A lot of cats are mentioned in the book, too, and I was amused to read that vets report cats are particularly good at sensing when their owners (whoops, make that "staff") are planning to take them to the vet, and disappearing.
Sheldrake's website is
http://www.sheldrake.org/
and he has links to his papers on unxplained powers of animals on this page:
http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Pa...als/index.html
By the way, I don't think Oscar is the first cat living in a hospice or nursing home who's been seen giving special attention to patients who are very close to death. I have very vague memories of seeing a story about another such cat on a TV news magazine many years ago -- this could very well have been back in the 1980s; I don't think it was any earlier than that -- but I don't recall which nursing home it was, or which TV program (most likely Dateline or 20/20), and I'm sure there wasn't anything on the program about anyone having kept exact track of how good the cat was at realizing which resident or patient was close to death. It's great that Oscar's behavior has been so well documented by a physician and the nursing home staff.
Cindy
My mother's cat used to sit on her stomach at night before she died of cancer - the cat never used to do that before.
Now, I hope I don't wake up some day with one of my cats sitting on my stomach.
Now, I hope I don't wake up some day with one of my cats sitting on my stomach.
Hmm...I wonder if more hospices are going to take to owning a cat (or possibly dog?)?
That's very intriguing that Oscar does that, especially when they said that he isn't a people person. Perhaps adopting him at that young age allowed him to develop the sense?
That's very intriguing that Oscar does that, especially when they said that he isn't a people person. Perhaps adopting him at that young age allowed him to develop the sense?
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Lunasmom, there's what's called the "Eden Alternative" in nursing home care that got started nearly 20 years ago -- a nursing home approach where the homes are filled with animals and plants. Here are links to articles:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pub/ltc.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/healt...eden_2-27.html
I think it might have been a news story on the original Eden Alternative home that I was recalling when I mentioned having heard about another cat living in a nursing home who behaved like Oscar. I still haven't been able to find that news story online, but if it was about the first Eden nursing home, it would have been in the early 1990s.
I did find a blog entry by the author of For Every Dog An Angel and For Every Cat An Angel that mentioned a similar cat being on her mother's bed when her mother died of Alzheimer's. That blog is at
http://lightheartedpress.blogspot.com/
and that entry is the one for March 22, 2007, "A Furry Farewell for Mom." It's about 2/3 of the way down the page, and the author says one of the caregivers at the home had told her that Lucas "comes to be with certain residents when he knows they are near the end of their life."
Just found a direct link to a page with only that entry:
http://lightheartedpress.blogspot.co...l-for-mom.html
Considering how long ago I'd heard that earlier news story, it's unlikely Lucas is the cat I heard about, so there are at least a few cats in nursing homes who've done this.
Cindy
Wow, interesting story!!
From Reuters
It wouldn't surprise me. Some cats seem to be able to sense some pretty amazing things!
From Reuters
It wouldn't surprise me. Some cats seem to be able to sense some pretty amazing things!
Amazing story, isn't it?
Btw, it was already posted here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=136046
Btw, it was already posted here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=136046
Oops...Originally Posted by emrldsky
Amazing story, isn't it?
Btw, it was already posted here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=136046
Mods - feel free to delete this thread
