Cat able to predict approaching death

Cat able to predict approaching death
A cat in a Rhode Island hospital in US has left doctors baffled by accurately predicting the death of patients, according to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Two year old Oscar often appears at the door of an elderly patient in the advanced dementia unit of Steere House in Providence and curls up in bed, purring warmly. The cat pays vigil over the patient as families say goodbye and disappears only after the patient dies.

Oscar was rescued by hospital workers from an animal refuge two years ago and has made the hospital his home. The cat goes on rounds of the unit on his own, and though he is not friendly with any humans, he often moves into the room of an elderly patient.

Doctors and nurses take this as a sign of approaching death and call the families to allow them say their goodbyes. On rare cases when the cat is asked to be put outside the room, he is found to be purring loudly outside the door in protest. So far the cat has predicted the deaths of over 25 patients.

The cat's behavior should not be viewed as mystic says Dr Kirstie Seksel, who is a vet and a specialist in animal behavior. Dr Seksel said that all animals are capable of reading changes in body languages and respiration rate.

"Animals are very good at reading body language, so this cat's probably picking up that even though the people are older and they don't move around much, there are differences in their respiration rate. I suspect there are also some pheromones or different smells that these people are emitting that we're not able to detect and this is what the cat has picked up on", she said.