[midnight-gamer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')ROVIDENCE, R.I. - Oscar the cat 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. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

[Falconoffury]

I once heard that cats are the gatekeepers of the underworld. I think the idea comes from ancient Egypt.

[jboogy]

What if puss isn't sensing impending death and comforting the doomed in their final hours,but actively facillitating or even causing the deaths of old people puss doesn't like. In the old days it was often said that some cats would perch on the chests of sleeping infinks and steal their breath.I think I even read that a young Drew Barrymore used to have nightmares that it was happening to her. discuss

[midnight-gamer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')I think I even read that a young Drew Barrymore used to have nightmares that it was happening to her. Shocked discuss

[jboogy]

well done midgame!and in record time too.

[wisconsin_cur]

My wife works at a nursing home and has plenty of stories of elderly people who had always been of sound mind telling "people" who were not there that they could not die for another three days (in one example) because they had a party coming up and a lot of people were coming to town for it. One day after the party the person died.

My grandmother died just a few short hours after a trip I made to see her (12 hour drive one way). I noticed that her affect was different (we don't show a whole lot of emotion in my family and she was practically gushing. In retrospect I realize that she (at least) knew it was the last time we would see each other.

I have no problem with the fact that an animal can tune into something that signals impending death.

Perhaps we could too if we could tap into a atrophied aspect of our own brain.

[Zardoz]

My mother-in-law waited until virtually her entire family had arrived at the hospital and was around her before she passed on.

The mother of a friend of mine waited through her last night until her two sons arrived at the hospital the next morning, then died within a half-hour of their getting there.

My oldest brother made a quick trip through the Midwest, visiting relatives he hadn't seen in some time, then very suddenly died within ten days of getting back home. Did he instinctively know something and feel like he needed to say goodbye?

Who knows what that remarkable cat is picking up. I saw the story about it on NBC news tonight. The most interesting thing about it is the fact that the cat seems to be trying to comfort the dieing people. It seems to actively want the soon-to-depart to not be alone when they go.

Nice kitty, huh?

(By the way, is it possible the ancient Egyptians observed cats doing this, hence the idea of them being underworld gatekeepers?)

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '
')Nice kitty, huh?

[WildRose]

I wonder about the physiological changes the cat is detecting in these dying patients. These people, being in a nursing home situation, would likely have fairly peaceful deaths because if they were in any amount of distress they'd be taken to hospital. So, the cat, if its getting really close to the patients, could be detecting slowed heart rate, shallow breathing, perhaps even a different scent from tissues that aren't receiving as much blood? I'm just speculating, of course.

[TheDude]

Fascinating stories, I always wondered about the stories of animals getting antsy before earthquakes, too.

[JohnLudi]

Back when he was still alive, I was much younger, and I didn't have my current type of gig, my cat Jeff (yes, that's right...Jeff the Cat) would reliably jump onto the front window ledge 15 or so minutes before I arrived home.

What made this behavior interesting was that I had a part time evening waiter gig that was completely random in it's schedule. I could come home anytime between 8PM and 3AM. According to my roommate at the time, he could almost always tell when I was about to come home by my cat's behavior.

I'd recommend the work of Rupert Sheldrake if this kind of thing interests any of you. He has a book called "Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals"...appropriately enough...

The skeptibunkers tend to hate the guy because he's accumulated a fair amount of decent statistical data...at least enough to make the phenomenon worth exploring.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnLudi', ' ')my cat Jeff (yes, that's right...Jeff the Cat)

[midnight-gamer]

I did a search for Rupert Sheldrake. Info on this site regarding an african parrot is very interesting.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')bout N'kisi:



N'kisi is a captive bred, hand raised Congo African Gray Parrot. He is 4-1/2 years old, and his species has a life span similar to humans. He has received teaching in the use of language for 4 years. He is now one of the world's top "language-using" animals, with an apparent understanding and appropriate usage of over 700 words. Aimee intuitively taught N'kisi as one would a child, by explaining things to him in context. (This goes beyond typical interactions with a "pet", involving many hours per day of teaching and conversations.) He is treated as a member of the family. N'kisi was not trained like a performing animal, and does not just mimic or use speech "on cue". Instead, he has been allowed to develop his own creative relationship to language as a means of self-expression. N'kisi speaks in sentences, showing a grasp of grammar in formulating his own original expressions. He is capable of actual conversations. He often initiates comments about what we are doing, feeling, looking at, thinking, etc, which is how we discovered his ability to read minds. N'kisi often demonstrates telepathy in spontaneous situations, and also communicates love, compassion, and a keen sense of humor. Language-using animals are like "animal ambassadors" helping to bridge the worlds of other species with our own. In the wild, parrots live in large flocks with complex social interactions, which have yet to be studied.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('midnight-gamer', 'I')nfo on this site regarding an african parrot is very interesting.

[Laughs_Last]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('midnight-gamer', 'I')nfo on this site regarding an african parrot is very interesting.

[OilIsMastery]

I find the parrot to be much more impressive than the cat. The cat is just observing. The parrot is something else lol.

http://skepdic.com/nkisi.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')'m afraid that this story stretches the boundaries of reasonable credibility, though stories of rational parrots go back at least to the 17th century.

[Zardoz]

Interesting blurb in today's "Parade" Sunday supplement magazine:

How Much Do Animals Really Know?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')ctually, examples of animal empathy have long been noted. What’s new today is that scientists seem ready to accept the idea that animals may be conscious or smart. Frans de Waal cites an example of chimp empathy dating back to 1910: A Russian scientist couldn’t get a chimp to come down from a roof unless she pretended she was hurt. Only now are such stories receiving a hearing in the scientific establishment.

“We are now much freer to talk about mental processes and emotions in animals that 15 years ago would have been laughed out of the room,” says de Waal.

[Bas]

What about a cat's predatorial instincts? I'm sure they can look at humans as potential food/prey and I think the behavior of this particular cat cannot be explaned by anything else than this. Still, I guess in a sick sort of way they can be useful a nursing home in this manner.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', ' ')
“We are now much freer to talk about mental processes and emotions in animals that 15 years ago would have been laughed out of the room,” says de Waal.

[Zardoz]

More on the remarkable Oscar in the Washington Post:

The Story of Oscar the Cat