Oscar (cat)

History

Oscar was adopted, still kitten, in a refuge for animals, and grew on the 3rd floor of the unit for the insanities of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center , with Providence, Rhode Island. The unit looks after patients reached of Alzheimer, Parkinson and other diseases, for the majority in the last stages of their disease and generally unconscious of their environment. Steere House is presented in the form of an accessible place for the familiar animals ( " fart friendly" English ); six animals live in the establishment (Lapin, cats, Chien, Perroquet).

After six months, the team realized that Oscar visited the patients regularly. It feels them and observes them, then winds into a ball itself to sleep with some. What has surprised the team is that the person near whom Oscar sleeps generally dies two to four hours after the arrival of the cat.

The strong correlation between the visits of Oscar and the death of these patients - at the end of July 2007, more than 25 deaths in these circumstances - involved the installation of a new procedure: when it is found dormant close to a patient, the team calls her close relations to prevent them of what they think of being his probable imminent death.

Most of the time, the family of the patient does not worry about the presence of Oscar. When it was excluded from the room at the request of the family, the cat to and from in front of the door and emits mewings of protest. When it is present, Oscar remains near the patient until his death. After which it from goes away and leaves the part.

Oscar, in addition, is not particularly affectionate.

The team of the hospital symbolically thanked the cat by posing a plate on a wall, with the inscription “For her sympathizing hospital care, this plate rewards Oscar the cat” (in English, " For his compassionate old people's home care, this plate is awarded to Oscar the Cat ").

Medical and scientific comments

Dr. Joan Teno, teacher of the Warren Alpert Medical School , with the Brown University of Providence, which deals with the residents of Steere House and sees Oscar regularly, comments: “It is not that the cat is the first always there. But it is always arranged to come, and it seems that it is always in the two last hours. ”

Dr. David Dosa, gériatre author of an article in the New England Journal off Medicine which started the media interest for this cat, said that “(Oscar) does not do too many errors. He seems to include/understand when the patients are about to die”. He puts forth the assumption that “the cat could detect specific odors accompanying death”, assumption supported by Dr. Teno.

According to certain specialists in the animal behaviors, the explanation by the sense of smell is plausible. “I suspect that it feels chemical substances emitted right before death”, declares Margie Scherk, Vétérinaire of Vancouver (British Columbia) and president of American Association off Cat-like Practitioners. “The cats can feel much more things than us, and they can certainly detect the disease. ” Dr. Jill Goldman, specialist in the animal behavior with Laguna Beach in California, estimates that “the cats have a splendid sense of smell” and adds that to remain at the side of one dying can be a learned control. “There was for him cat a full possibility of associating " cette" odor and death. ”

The sense of smell is however only one assumption. For Dr. Daniel Estep, a specialist in the animal behavior of Littleton (Colorado), “What occurs inter alia at the people who die is that they stir up very little. Perhaps the cat goes it counts of what the person on the bed is very quiet. That could be not the odor or the sounds, but just the absence of movement. ”

Dr. Thomas Low registers, a specialist in the cats of the University of Illinois, declares with BBC: “The cats can often feel when their Masters are sick or when another animal is sick. They can feel that time will change, and they are famous to have a presentiment of the earthquakes. ”

External bonds

'' off has Day in the Life Oscar the Cat '', David Mr. Dosa, The New England Journal off Medicine , July 26th, 2007
'' Oscar, the kitten which has a presentiment of the '' death, Martine Perez, Le Figaro of July 28th, 2007
'' Oscar, the cat which announces the deaths '', dispatch Associated Press of July 26th, 2007
Steere House
'' Cat Is Harbinger Of Death '' (video) on CBS News, July 26th, 2007
'' Oscar The 'Amazing Cat ''' (video), interview of Dr. David Dosa, CBS News, July 26th, 2007
'' Oscar the Cat '', photograph in the New England Journal off Medicine

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