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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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 Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:09 am Post subject: US cat 'predicts patient deaths' |
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Last Updated: Thursday, 26 July 2007, 10:32 GMT 11:32 UK
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US cat 'predicts patient deaths'
Oscar meows in protest if removed from the room of a dying patient
A US cat that is reportedly able to sense when a nursing home's residents are about to die is baffling doctors.
Oscar has a habit of curling up next to patients at the home in Providence, Rhode Island, in their final hours.
According to the author of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the two-year-old cat has been observed to be correct in 25 cases so far.
Staff now alert the families of residents when he sits down next to their ailing loved one.
"He doesn't make many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," David Dosa, a professor at Brown University who carried out the research, told the Associated Press news agency.
'Premonitions'
Oscar was adopted as a kitten at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre.
Cats often can sense when their owners are sick or when another animal is sick
Thomas Graves, feline expert
The cat is said to do his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses at the home, but is not generally friendly to patients.
Although most families are grateful for the warning Oscar seems to provide, some relatives ask that the pet be taken away while they say their last goodbyes to their loved ones. |
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Alyallen
Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Location: The 4th Greatest Place on Earth = Jeonju!!!
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| Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:48 am Post subject: |
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I read that article yesterday. It is quite interesting but it makes sense in a way. Some dogs can tell when their masters are low on insulin or are about to go into shock from a lack of insulin...
Animals are quite amazing in comparison to us but they simply have more to work with in terms of sight, smell and other olfactory processes.... |
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Tony_Balony
Joined: 12 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:43 pm Post subject: |
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Cats suck the breath out of people and kill them. Thats whats really happening.
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| As a passed-out drunk freshman in a Michigan State dorm room about 32 years ago, I can attest to cat breath thievery--or at least to cat-assisted attempted suffocation. Unconscious in my bunk bed, I was unaware that one of my academic neighbors had let a small stray cat into my room during the night. The next morning I awoke with really fuzzy vision and undeniably hairy tongue. Naturally I thought I had achieved a truly remarkable hangover. I raised my hands to give my eyes a serious rubbing (I was lying flat on my back), when much to my surprise I discovered a large furry growth protruding at least three inches above my face. |
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bignate
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Location: Hell's Ditch
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| Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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If I lived in the home, I would predict the cat's ultimate demise...
"Right after I pick up this hammer..."  |
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koon_taung_daeng
Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Location: south korea
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| Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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| thats pretty cool, and scary |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| koon_taung_daeng wrote: |
| thats pretty cool, and scary |
Actually, it is not. The cat is a gift since he he is there to be a source of comfort for the dying person and letting people know it is time for that person to give people a chance to properly shed their tears, hug their beloved uncle, mother, or father and say "Good bye". That is something we will all have to say, and how many have said they wish they had a chance to say "Good bye". I would say "Good, *beep* cat, even though you are not so friendly sometimes". |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:16 pm Post subject: |
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| cynicalsteve wrote: |
You're having a rest, saving strength for the telly
When the kitten of death makes a nest on your belly.
The doctors pay court to the ultimate juror
Another result for the whiskered grim purrer.
But this addled wrinkly's not giving up yet
To hell with the doctors - she calls in the vet.
Our murdering moggy has sensed the death sniff
But this time our Oscar has picked the wrong stiff.... |
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_smith/2007/07/cats_and_docs.html |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 7:19 am Post subject: |
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Cats are usually only comfortable sitting on peoples laps if that person is calm, relaxed, peaceable. Anyone whos had a cat knows that...
the cat is simply drawn to the peaceful disposition of the person that has resigned themselves to and come to terms with, death. |
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