Oscar the cat lives in a nursing facility, and seems to predict the imminent demise of its residents with bizarre accuracy. Whenever he goes and lies down near an ailing patient, the patient dies within four hours. How does he do this? How does he sense death coming? Scientists are stumped.
Pet owners, what do you think? What have you seen in your own animals?
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This story creeped me out. I think it just goes to show that there are all sorts of things in this world, natural and supernatural, that we don't understand. What could possibly be the cat's motivation? One of the doctors was quoted as saying he thought maybe the dying patient releases some sort of toxin, and that the cat "likes the smell." That's kind of gross to contemplate, I hope it's something more than that. I do think its very likely that the cat is a comfort to the severely demented, dying patients.
When I die, I want my cat with me. Of course, hopefully I'll outlive the one I've got now...
I witnessed this myself with our family dogs. We took in my grandmother when she was in the final stages of Alzheimers. It was over Christmas break, and I was home from college. One evening, at about 9:00pm, our two corgis got agitated, started whining, and posted themselves at the foot of my grandmother's hospital bed (the bed was in the living room at the time and I was in there watching TV - additionally, the dogs hadn't posted themselves at any prior occasion). My grandmother, who was by this time pretty catatonic, groaned, and let out a loud sigh. I went over, checked her breathing, and she had passed.
The behavior of the two corgis was remarkable... they were lying down on the floor, looking up at the bed with their ears flat against their head... this was back in 1999 and I still remember it like yesterday.
Dear CNN:
I wish you would quit calling this cat the "GRIM KITTY". I would rather you called him the "COMFORT KITTY". Animals, I believe, have more of an awareness of people's feelings than humans do. I sometimes think they have a direct connect with GOD. They sense and feel things that humans with their preoccupations cannot. Please, do not call him that anymore. I believe he is trying to comfort these people on their journey. They do not know where their souls are going, but that very sensitive cat does. He is only trying to help them.
Deb Eklund
I don't know about our dog, Tucker, being able to sense death but his breath might bring it on.
I've noticed that the few times I've been really sick in bed, the dogs, instead of curling up on their mats in my room, will come lie on the bed very close to me and it's comforting. I'm not sure if they're sensing anything other than that I'm not moving around the house and they might as well join me.
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