When Oscar the cat visits resident of the steere House Nursing and Reablitation certer in providence,
Rhode Island,the staff jumps into action-Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die.
In his two years living in steere's end-stage dementia unit,Oscar has been at the beside ofmore than
25 residents shorthly before they died,according to Dr David Dosa of Brown University in providence.
He wrote about Oscar in the Nwe England Journal of Medicine."It is not that the cat is consistently
there first" Dr Joan Teno,a professorof commmunity health at Brown University,who sees patient in the unit.
"but the cat always dose manage to make an appearance,and it always seems to be in the last teo hours"
Raised at the nursing since it was a kitten,Oscar often check in on residents,but when he curls up for a visit,
physician and nursing home staff know its time to call the family.
"I dont think thi is a psychic cat" said Teno,"i think there is probably a biochemical explanation" she said
in a telephone interview.
While pet are often use to bring comfort to elders in the nursing home settings,Oscar talent is special
though not unexpected.
'That is such a cat thing to do"said Thomas Graves,a feline expert and a chief of small animal medcine
at the University of Illinois College of Vetenary Medicine.
Graves said there is no evidence to suggest cats can sense death,but he dosent discount it for a minute.
"Those things are hard to study.i think probably DOgs and Cats can sense what we cant"he said.
On a particular day detailed by Dr Dosa,Oscar settled into the bed of a patient in room 313.
His presence sent staffs off to make calls and set up vigils.
When a grandson asked why the cat was there, his mother explained "He's helping grandma get to heaven"
according to Dr Dosa's account.
She died half an hour latter.
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