Oscar

I’ve lived with cats off and mostly on, for a quarter century. Each one has had their own unique personality. I’ve lived with independent, feisty, aloof cats and at least one I referred to as a “puppy-cat” because of the way she shadowed me and came when called. I’ve even been called “Mom” by a cat. Willow used to draw the vowel sound out to make it a plaintive wail that was unmistakable as "Mom". She was the only creature on this earth to ever call me by that name. Amanda used to know whenever I was in pain and would curl up on just the right spot to bring warmth and comfort to me. Cassie is our posable cat. She doesn’t mind being picked up and carried in any configuration and when the camera is out, she actually lets us move her into a better position. Abby, well, she’s one tough cookie, who has taken to being held in my arms while I rub her tummy. And she likes to walk all around the slippery, curved edge of the old clawfoot tub, in between the shower curtain and the liner, just to get a head rub while we are on the throne, as it were. She likes a captive audience! But when I get the camera out she is the black and gold blur just exiting the edge of the photo.

So while the headline startled me, I didn’t doubt it when I read: “Feline Intuition; Cat Can Sense When Nursing Home Patients Are About To Die”. It’s a wonderful story about a cat in Rhode Island, named Oscar, who lives in a nursing home. When patients are about to die, he goes to their bedside. He senses their imminent passing even when the medical staff is uncertain. Here’s a link to the Boston.com article, and another to the write up in The New England Journal of Medicine.

There’s so much we just don’t know...