Nursing home cat knows dying residents
Oscar, a cat in a US nursing home, can pick which residents are about to die, by staying by their sides in the last few hours before death.
His uncanny accuracy, observed in 25 cases, now helps staff call the relatives of the resident and alert them of the impending death.
A geriatrician writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, says the cat sniffs and observes patients then sits beside people who would end up dying within a few hours.
Oscar is normally aloof and not friendly to people, but the families of the dying patients found his presence comforting, and appreciated his advance warning.
