The cat who comforts the dying

The Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, believes in the therapeutic benefits of animal companionship and is home to a variety of animals, including a number of cats, parakeets, a floppy-eared bunny and several regular canine visitors.

But Oscar the cat is unique.

Oscar came to Steere House 11 years ago as a kitten. The staff decided to adopt him, and he immediately took on a very vital role for the nursing home. Oscar has the uncanny ability to sense when patients are dying and stays with them in their time of need. Oscar’s presence notifies the nurses that help is needed and enables the family members to prepare for the end.

Oscar made headlines in 2007 when he was featured in an article by David Dosa, M.D., in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the article, Dr. Dosa described how Oscar has demonstrated an ability to detect a patient’s impending death and how in doing so, he is able to provide a touch of comfort to the dying, elderly residents of Steere House’s Safe Haven Advanced Care unit and their families who are dealing with the latter stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of end-stage dementia.

I found these interesting comments by viewers of the video on YouTube:

“I’ve worked at a nursing home. We had a cat that curled up next to passing residents. Not every time, but often. It’s not uncommon.”

“Fascinating! Oscar is the split image of my cat Pip, they look exactly the same and both have shown an uncanny insight re the health and well-being of people to whom they are closely associated with. I live alone with my pet cat, Pip and at night she always sleeps at the foot of my bed. One evening last year after I had gone to bed, Pip came in and jumped up close to my head and immediately began to rummage her nose through my beard and under my chin, mainly on one side of my neck. This was very strange and unusual behaviour for my cat. I fell asleep soon after about 15 minutes of this treatment. In the morning Pip had gone out and I thought no more about what had happened but in the afternoon I I felt a little pain in my throat. This pain then continued daily and every time I was resting Pip would repeat what had happened that night. I began to sense that there was something seriously wrong with my throat and thought that Pip was trying to tell me this. Over the following weeks I saw 3 GPs and not one of them diagnosed my problem. Eventually I managed to get an appointment with a consultant at a hospital quite a long way from where I live and with a special instrument he was able to look far enough down my throat to see that I had a growth on my `voice-box` The biopsy showed that I had cancer. I underwent radiotherapy (6 sessions over 3 weeks) The cancer pain disappeared after 3 sessions and on the day that the pain went, Pip resumed sleeping at the foot of my bed I feel now that the cancer has gone, and Pip seems to think so.”

“Its true cats are amazing creatures. My elderly dad suffered a fall in the middle of the night on his way to the bathroom and hit his head and wasn’t able to get up. He was 98 years old. Our cat was outside at the time and he ran to my mom’s bedroom window and meowed until she woke up to let him in (around 3am) where she found my dad on the dining room floor in a pool of blood and called 911 to get him help. If it weren’t for our cat, my mom wouldn’t have found him until the morning.”

“I hope I have a cat lay next to me if I should have to live out my last days alone in a nursing home.”

See also “Peyo, the horse who comforts the sick and dying“.

~E

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