Death Cat: A Mysterious Companion

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers around the phenomenon of a cat named Oscar, who is known for visiting terminally ill patients in a nursing home, leading to speculation about whether he can sense impending death. Participants debate the implications of his presence, including concerns about patient awareness and the potential psychological effects on those who may not be ready to die. The conversation also touches on the comfort the cat provides to family members, despite some patients and families expressing discomfort with his visits. Overall, the discussion highlights the complex relationship between animals and human emotions in end-of-life care.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of animal behavior, particularly in relation to human emotions.
  • Familiarity with hospice and nursing home care practices.
  • Knowledge of psychological impacts of pets on terminally ill patients.
  • Awareness of sanitation standards in healthcare facilities.
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the role of therapy animals in hospice care.
  • Explore studies on animal behavior related to human health, such as "Dogs Detecting Cancer."
  • Investigate the psychological effects of pet presence on patients in palliative care.
  • Learn about sanitation protocols for animals in healthcare settings.
USEFUL FOR

Healthcare professionals, hospice workers, animal behaviorists, and families of patients in end-of-life care settings will benefit from this discussion, particularly those interested in the intersection of animal companionship and human emotional well-being.

G01
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Death Cat??

Is this cat the grim reaper, or just a companion for those who need it most?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/death.cat.ap/index.html
 
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Perhaps the cat is carrying some sort of bacteria that is actually killing the patients he visits! :eek::bugeye:
 
How many of the patients were aware of the cat's reputation before the cat came to visit them?
 
Perhaps the cat can sense impending death. Maybe there is something that happens in the body which the cat can pick up on, in a similar fashion to how dogs can smell cancer. If there is one animal that experiences the death of other animals most often it will be a cat.
 
Kurdt said:
in a similar fashion to how dogs can smell cancer.

What? :confused:
 
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0112_060112_dog_cancer.html
Cancer dogs
 
Yeah that sentence was awful.

There have been many studies going on for quite a while now and from their results it appears that most dogs can detect certain types of cancer such as lung and bladder cancer.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0112_060112_dog_cancer.html
 
jimmysnyder said:
How many of the patients were aware of the cat's reputation before the cat came to visit them?

I think the patients in this ward are usually in such a state that they can't even recognize the cat's presence to begin with.
 
Well, the article says the cat generally doesn't like people, so maybe it's just that it's the only time he is allowed to stay in a soft bed without anyone trying to pet him.

I'd like to know how often he might just curl up with a sleeping patient not near death, or how many patients die that Oscar doesn't visit to see if it's just chance, or if there might be a certain cause of death he's able to detect.

Or, maybe he just has a penchant for curling up with people who are deathly allergic to cats. :rolleyes:
 
  • #10
G01 said:
Is this cat the grim reaper, or just a companion for those who need it most?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/death.cat.ap/index.html

Great article. We know that cats have very well engineered senses. Maybe they pick up a change of smell coming from the human body ? I dunno...

Great cat though.
I want to be surrounded by them when i die, that's a fact.

marlon
 
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  • #11
G01 said:
I think the patients in this ward are usually in such a state that they can't even recognize the cat's presence to begin with.
The article agrees with you:


article said:
Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill they probably don't know he's there, so patients aren't aware he's a harbinger of death.
What precautions are being made to insure that the patient is unaware before they allow the cat in? By no means would I allow this cat into my nursing home.
 
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  • #12
jimmysnyder said:
The article agrees with you:



What precautions are being made to insure that the patient is unaware before they allow the cat in? By no means would I allow this cat into my nursing home.
Why not? Perhaps it wants someone to be with these people in their last moments so they don't die alone.

I had a sick kitten and I knew it was dying when another kitten suddenly refused to leave it's side not even to eat, it just wrapped himself around the sick kitten, kept it warm, groomed it, it really cheered the little dying one up in those last hours. :cry:
 
  • #13
Evo said:
Why not?
Because the patient may be awake and may not be dying.
 
  • #14
jimmysnyder said:
Because the patient may be awake and may not be dying.
I don't think anyone is going to kill the patient if they don't die after the cat shows up. :biggrin:
 
  • #15
I think the cat was sitting on their face when they slept and smothered them. :smile:
 
  • #16
Moonbear said:
I'd like to know how often he might just curl up with a sleeping patient not near death, or how many patients die that Oscar doesn't visit to see if it's just chance, or if there might be a certain cause of death he's able to detect.

Right. That's exactly the thing I'd like to know as well. Does the cat curl up next to patients who don't die? How often and for how long? How often do patients there die, anyway? Do people tend to notice the cat if it curls up with people who don't die?
 
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  • #17
cyrusabdollahi said:
I think the cat was sitting on their face when they slept and smothered them. :smile:
I was thinking the same thing.
 
  • #19
Evo said:
I don't think anyone is going to kill the patient if they don't die after the cat shows up. :biggrin:
It's a real medical issue. If the patient sees the cat lying down next to them, they may lose the will to live.
 
  • #20
russ_watters said:
Clearly, this is not a cat - it is Chuck Norris!

:smile: Thats going to be my new excuse when anything goes wrong. Clearly it was Chuck Norris!
 
  • #21
Aah..I love the smell of death in the air. Or was that napalm??
 
  • #22
jimmysnyder said:
What precautions are being made to insure that the patient is unaware before they allow the cat in? By no means would I allow this cat into my nursing home.
I agree...can you imagine if you know the cat has this reputation and it decides to curl up next to you and you're not quite ready to die yet? The fear alone could cause a heart attack in someone already frail.

Not to mention that it just seems generally unsanitary to have a cat roaming free in a hospital, and not everyone likes cats if it can just wander into any room it wants to visit. I'm surprised this is allowed at all.
 
  • #23
Moonbear said:
I agree...can you imagine if you know the cat has this reputation and it decides to curl up next to you and you're not quite ready to die yet? The fear alone could cause a heart attack in someone already frail.

:bugeye: :eek:

Shoo, kitty! Shoo! Shoo!
 
  • #24
The article does say that family members of the patients find the cat's presence comforting.
 
  • #25
There is a bit of cat "psychology" that might play into this, too. A person in hospice care or a nursing home who is in distress or at least getting a bit of extra attention is going to be visited more frequently, and the people visiting that ill person (especially the staff) won't spend a lot of time looking at a cat. Cats like brief eye contact, then a turn away. They interpret this as an invitation to come closer, and will often chum up to humans who will not or cannot make eye contact.
 
  • #26
Evo said:
The article does say that family members of the patients find the cat's presence comforting.

I can imagine that the cat does comfort the people who have family members in this nursing home. They are probably on the verge of loosing someone very close, and need some sort of companionship, even if it is just a furry, little guy, roaming the halls. Most people probably don't mind the cat, unless they don't like cats in general.
 
  • #27
Evo said:
The article does say that family members of the patients find the cat's presence comforting.

That doesn't mean the patient finds it comforting to have the "grim reaper cat" cuddle up with them, even if their relatives do. And, they did mention that one family insisted the cat be removed, which would suggest they were NOT so comforted by its presence. This is quite different from having a therapy animal brought into visit people who want to be visited by an animal, and having that therapy animal fully bathed and groomed before it can enter the building.
 
  • #28
Moonbear said:
This is quite different from having a therapy animal brought into visit people who want to be visited by an animal, and having that therapy animal fully bathed and groomed before it can enter the building.
Good point. People who are very ill often have immune systems that are highly compromised, and it might not be a good idea to trot animals in and out of their rooms. They might have been borderline-allergic to cat or dog dander while in good health, and experience some pretty strong histamine reactions in the presence of an animal when they are at their weakest.
 
  • #29
It's not a hospital, it's an old folk's home. And they're not sick, they're old. If they were ill, they would be moved either into a hospital or a part of the facility for sick patients, if they even have such a wing. This ward was for people suffering varying types of dementia.

My grandmother died in a nursing home...from old age.
 
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  • #30
Moonbear said:
I'm surprised this is allowed at all.
And here I thought you liked killer cats? :confused::biggrin:
 

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