I too have a theory about "Oscar Kevorkian" the cat in the nursing home...

I just think that animals can sense death approaching in other animals. We probably can too if we were to pay attention to our senses.

This cat for whatever reason feels a need to lie down with people who are about to die. I don't know what that reason is, or why it is.

My theory is that the cat senses the death and then perhaps even senses the people's fear and goes to them. :shrug: I'm guessing it is a pet therapy cat since it lives in a nursing home and it is probably used to comforting people, or knows that people who are fearful or uncomfortable are wanting to be comforted and that they will in turn pet or cuddle with him.

So i don't ascribe any spiritual significance to this instead, just stimulus: scared uncomfortable person- with response: person is comforted by the cat and pets or cuddles with the cat in response the cat likes this and it is rewarded.

Maybe I'm cynical and jaded, but that is my theory. :hi:

therefore I will live FOREVER!

}(
Bwahahaha!

well, maybe it is

:hi:

very scared :scared:


:rofl:

because they don't move around as much. Helathy people are always changing sides, fluffing the pillow, getting up to use the bathroom, etc. It's really quite annoying for the cat.

hmmm


:yoiks:

run from the cats

my cat picks the moment I am about to fall into blissful sleep to hop on my bed, assume the "violin stick" position and lick his ass like it's a tender vittle: now THAT is annoying :o

because he plans to eat them at the point of death? Cats will hunt smaller animals, obviously they are smart enough not to try to "hunt" human beings, but sitting around for a big 'ol human to become "freshly" dead might seem like a wise move to a cat. Of course, I'm sure they remove the bodies pretty fast (or shoo the cat out of the room at least) upon death. Oscar's persistent though. He keeps waiting for what usually happens in nature: something dies, undertakers don't come round to whisk away the corpse.

on Good Morning America! All those viewers spitting up their morning coffee!

Evidently, he performs a service to the relatives of the dying person. The nursing home calls them when they see Oscar lying down with the patient. They can get there faster to say goodbye. That means a lot. I know, I was warned not by a cat but my mother's family doc. It gave me enough time to get down to Dallas from CT and arrange for my husband, son and daughter to be there. It was so peaceful and gentle...

i wonder if he ever gets it wrong?

if he was going to eat them wouldn't he stay?

:shrug:

I don't know

Most likely it's a scent, like a subtle change in the mix when the person exhales or something. There are some anecdotes of dogs who seem to sense cancer in people and the theory there is based on scent.

Isn't there a sort of fruity smell?

Plus, I have seen more than one of my cats sniff very carefully around one who was ill and old. Sure, they know what's going on.

Oh, and some people think a surviving pet should be shown the body of its companion animal. I did that when my elder cats died. I had the body in a shoebox and let each cat sniff it.

Cats and dogs do seem to make better use of their noses than humans do. Perhaps people have the ability but it's been clouded by all of the distracting sensory inputs of the modern world.

the dying smell different, we could probably smell it if we knew what we were smelling for :shrug:

...when Lesley was dying, her cat Athena would not leave her side. To the point of jumping right back up on the bed after being shooed off of it.

thanks for that...

:hi:

My cat knew when I went into labor both times - followed me into the car - and she hated car trips - so you know she had to know something was up.