Have you read the article about the 'death cat' on yahoo.com?

Question

This article gave me the chills.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_fe_st/death_cat

I don't know if this is a good thing, or if the 'soul' person dying is in jeopardy. Please let me know your opinion.
From the article....''Most families are grateful for the advanced warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put outside, he paces and meows his displeasure''
these two sentences gave me the chills, otherwise, the article made the cat look great.

I was thinking maybe the cat can see the angels or loved ones(passed loved ones) watching the person in his/her last hours, so they could guide the soul of the soon to be departed. Maybe the cat can sense/see them, like maybe some children can.
or...maybe it is a death cat, that speeds up the death, or maybe it feeds on the soul?
either way....i'd get away from the cat, and never put anyone i loved in that hospital.

lol 'feeds on the soul' is a silly superstition...i can't remove it now...sorry about that...just threw out some possibilities and unfortunately that one too.

Answer 1

It was one VERY interesting article, and I really hope that the cat IS able to sense impending death, rather than some other, more mundane explanation. Such as its gravitation to the warmth of heated blankets placed on people in that state. How FASCINATING that would be!! And if ONLY we could learn his secrets, if that's the case. Science should study him, to see if that can be accomplished. The cat's only 2 years old, and indoor cats tend to live to be about 15. So just maybe a great deal could be learned. I'd love to own so talented a cat!

Answer 2

I think it's great that the dying get comfort from someone -even that someone is a cat. Maybe the reason Oscar meows his displeasure at being put outside is that he knows that person still needs his special form of comfort.

I'm glad that Oscar can give an advance warning. It must be wonderful to have those extra hours with a family member.
My own mother died in December of a stroke and my brother and I would have given a lot for a warning like these people have. God has sent Oscar into their lives

Answer 3

Yes, I saw it. The original article was in the New England Journal of Medicine. There are two things that are probably going on: one is that animals have a much greater sense of smell than humans and the chemicals in the dying might trigger the cat's behavior, because the cat might now associate that smell with... the warmed blanket given to the dying. Cat's (and other animals) are a lot more perceptive than most of us give us credit for. I have a cat, and as cat's go, its an Einstein - it understands things that you wouldn't think it should, like hand gestures, and the meaning of certain words. This cat has learned something. Weird, but not inexplicable.

Answer 4

This "death cat" story can be explained this way:

Persons about to die gives off a certain scent which this cat is
sensitive to and as attracted to it. Maybe it's a faint "mousy"
smell that cats love.

Dogs have been trained to accurately locate some type of skin cancer in a human body.

Perhaps some animals can detect whether a person is lying on not more accurately than an electronic device. We can then have this animal sit beside a witness during a court proceedings. Or attend Senate committee hearings.

Answer 5

There are other animals and even people with similar abilities. I once knew an emergency room nurse who could tell when a person was dying -- and had an uncanny record for correct predictions; never missing once over the course of many years.

The main tragedy of his story is that he also became aware of his own impending death and I viewed that as an avenue down which I would not willingly choose to go.

The soul of the dying is never in jeopardy; only release from the surly bonds of physical existence into that of the spiritual. Animals lack the treacherous inclinations of demons and some humans.

Answer 6

I would imagine that on a purely scientific leve, there are biochemical changes in the individual that are too subtle for machines to detect, but that the cat can detect or sense (similar to cancer-sniffing dogs who can find tumors that aren't usually detectable by normal medical means).

Why the cat chooses to stay with a human who is dying, on the other hand, is another question. It may be scientific, it may be spiritual. But if it offers the loved ones a warning and the opportunity to see the person before they die, I think it's pretty darned cool.

Answer 7

The picture of the cat creeped me out..

I have a feeling that by watching the other doctors and nurses caring for those that were about to die, the cat responded in kind and began "caring" for the other patients. My guess is that the cat could smell when death was near and went to the patients just like when it saw the other doctors and nurses doing so- eventually learning that when a person is about to die, it is his job to go sit with them...that's just a guess, but not something I would think a cat incapable of.

Cool story, though.

edit: whoever reported JinEnglish- drop dead

Answer 8

I saw it and thought the article was somewhat poignant in that the cat wanted to be around as a comfort somehow. I have a cat that every time I get sick, he crawls into my bed and only moves to eat and "do his business" until I get well. It's actually a very tender thing and I think it's another of God's ways of sending comfort to the family and the afflicted.

Answer 9

It was on Good Morning America today. It was very interesting. The nurses at the Home said that they were grateful because they had enough time to call the family members.

Answer 10

i actually posted a question about this in the cats section
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Asidoxy_Uz2DdiDri2CtnMvsy6IX?qid=20070726080949AAptcqr

i think he's a cool cat! one of my cats always paces & meows outside my door if i'm in there crying (he doesn't do that otherwise--the other one does but not him), and when i open it he jumps up & cuddles with me, lets me hug him for a long time. usually he is more aloof, prefers to lay by one's feet rather than in their lap, abhorrs being held (he usually only TOLERATES it for about 15 seconds)...
i don't find it creepy at all... i find it very sweet, poignant is the perfect word...