Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Furry Grim Reaper


Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I., seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. Here is the article.


Edits: Some colleagues of mine, here at Cornell University Press, have turned me onto to some related ideas and web sites, in case you are interested.

Jonathan wrote: That's really cool! Glad they didn't completely dismiss it like they generally do. Reminds of the research being done by Rupert Sheldrake.

Susan wrote:Not to be gross, but I think it's probably an atavistic neurological ability; in the wild, it would be to a feline's benefit to wait for prey that might be attracted to a carcass.

1 comment:

H3NR7 said...

I KNEW IT! Don't let his fluffy cuteness fool you. Cats are the consort of the Devil.