Cat predicts deaths in nursing home
Pastor Dale Morgan
Cat predicts deaths in nursing home*
PROVIDENCE — Dogs can sometimes predict an epileptic owner's seizure or
sniff at an owner's mole, signaling a possible cancer.
Now, it appears a cat can predict the deaths of patients in a nursing home.
When Oscar curls up on a patient's bed and stays there, the staff knows
it's time to call the family. It usually means the patient has less than
four hours to live.
The feline's accuracy has been observed in 25 cases at Steere House
Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients
are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the
phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine.
ON DEADLINE: Read the article
"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 Brown
University.
The 2-year-old Oscar was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a
third-floor dementia unit at Steere House, which treats people with
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.
After about six months, the staff noticed the cat would make his own
rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and observe
patients, and those he stayed with 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 Brown University, who treats patients at the nursing
home and is an expert on care for the terminally ill.
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 Cummings
School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University 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 of saying goodbye to the dying.
Oscar recently received a wall plaque commending his "compassionate
hospice care."