Sunday, February 7, 2010

Oscar the Nursing Home Cat Now Has Science on His Side



Remember the story a few years ago about the nursing home cat, the fish-breathed grim reaper who is able to tell when a patient was going to die? When a patient is about to die, Oscar the cat curls up next to him or her and stays there until the patient leaves this world.

The story caught the attention of millions -- and does to this day (the above cartoon, by veteran political cartoonist Lyle Lahey, has been viewed by thousands of people a month for the past several years). Most people probably thought the cat was either lucky, or magic, or that the nursing home attendants were just not observant of when Oscar curled up next to other patients.

But researcher Dr. David Dosa has been studying Oscar's case, and he's concluded that in fact the cat is detecting something in the dying people -- dead cells, or something -- and was not particularly friendly with other residents when they were living and well.

Read the report on the researcher and his results in an article this month in the UK's Telegraph newspaper.

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