Cute kitty is harbinger of death

Updated 07.39 Fri Jul 27 2007

Keywords: health, cat

A cat in the US appears to have an developed an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours.

Oscar's accuracy has led staff at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre in Providence, Rhode Island, to call family members once he has chosen someone as it usually means they have less than four hours to live.

Oscar's accuracy has led staff to call family members once he has chosen someone as it usually means they have less than four hours to live

The cat's behaviour is described in the distinguished New England Journal of Medicine.

The two-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a dementia unit at the centre, which treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses, and would sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would end up dying in a few hours.

The cat seemed to be better at predicting death than the people who work at the facility.

Doctors said most of the people who got a visit from the sweet-faced, grey-and-white cat were so ill they probably did not know he was there, so patients were not aware he was a harbinger of death.

Most families were grateful for the advanced warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died.

It is possible his behaviour could be driven by self-centred pleasures like a heated blanket placed on a dying person, according to one theory.