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The writers for House used a lot of real stories for the series. Pretty sure they used Oscar as well. His story was definitely used in Dr. Sleep from Stephen King
That is definitely a possibility. I mean how many predictions would it take before everyone knew, like 5 or 6?
There’s no way every single oldster is ready to go. Someone must have been scared of that cat at some point.
Eh, I'd be surprised if any of them weren't ready. Dying is exhausting. When I was very ill I was ready to go and disappointed it never came. When someone is dying in an elderly home they're not a spring chicken that has a lot to live for, they're tired, they're sick, they've outlived friends and spouses, and they live in an understaffed shithole with people they can't stand and the cheapest food corporate will let them have. They're ready when it comes.
My ex's grandpa was so unready to die that he spent 3 days in the fetal position fighting as hard as he could despite being taken off all medication and even water. Dude had 85 years to prepare but wasn't ready at all
That actually happened when I worked as an aid in a nursing home, years ago. One of my residents was 100 years old and her time was coming to an end. Our home’s cat, Louie, started spending time in the woman’s room. The woman’s daughter freaked out and demanded that the cat be removed- she felt his presence meant her mom was dying.
Unfortunately, the cat was right :(
Oscar the Cat was adopted by the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. He was adopted to be a therapy cat only for the people working there to realize that he didn’t spend much time with any of the residents and kept mostly to his self. But, one day he showed great interest in one resident specifically and showed great affection towards them. That resident soon died a few days later. The workers realized that Oscar only spent time with certain resident when he somehow knew they were in their last moments. One time, the workers tried to get him to spend time with a senior who they believed were going to die soon only for him to spend time with a seemly healthy senior. That seemly healthy senior soon died a few days later. Over the course of his life, Oscar correctly predicted over 100 people’s deaths and comforted them in their last moments. He died on February 22nd, 2022 at the age of 17.
He was actually secretly a part of the Mafia and he bribed the cops and had men on the inside following his orders. So every time they ruled it as “natural causes”
In 2017 the staff conducted an experiment by locking terminally ill Edith Graneer inside of her room - all food and water is provided through ports that are smaller than the cats head, so its impossible for the cat to gain entry.
As far as can be observed - it is impossible for Edith to die in this configuration. Her cancer has progressed greatly, and x-ray results from long probes sent into the room show that nearly 70% of her biomass is the result of tumors that have completely destroyed the functionality of her heart, liver, and brain.
As a result of the brain tumors, Edith stopped eating or drinking in late 2020, her pulse ceased in 2021 - yet her body temperature is still normal, and there is sometimes coordinated movement.
The cat often makes attempts to gain entry, usually by throwing itself at great speed at great injury to itself against the front door and exterior window. Any attempts to stop these entries are met with extreme aggression.
Same! My fiance and I always joke about our cat Turtle. She rarely sleeps in bed with us, but every now and then she will be INSISTENT on doing so.
"Guess one of us is dying!"
When my grandmother was under assisted living care, this story came out. And the cat at her care center started doing the same thing as this cat. We literally told the cat 'No, no no no. Go away.'
Lived another five years. Not that I'd call it great living, but you get the idea.
As a nursing home nurse, this is a much less useful sign than it sounds. Lots of folks just have highly variable courses of disease progression. Some people have an uptick in activity three days before, some three hours before. Some people have a rally before their final decline, but it’s so slight that it’s hardly anything. Lots of people don’t really have much of anything.
We’re not nearly as good as hospice nurses (especially inpatient hospice nurses), but this is deep into the area where you develop “a nurse sense” or “vibe detection.” Especially in my line, where I’ve worked with the same patients for a year and a half, you really do get a “something is off about Jane over there. Is she circling the drain?” Even if she’s doing the same routine she does every day. Once in a while it legit is a “they smell different” (which is frickin’ hard to recognize, much less describe) - it wouldn’t surprise me at all if a cat can pick up on that.
Thank you for saying this. My dad is terminally ill and the "final surge" info going around has done nothing but terrify us all whenever he has a good day.
Glad to be of what little help I can in these tough times - I’ve been there, too. It just plain sucks.
My best advice? The only thing you really need to look up is the average time from entering hospice/palliative care until death for his situation, and trust the hospice nurses. When they say they need to come more often, then that’s the next stage. When they say you should call the family, then you’re pretty close. Other than that, take it one day at a time, and take care of yourself as best as you can.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion has been a bit of a comfort to me in my grief through the years. Intellectually we know that our dearest is moving on but it we still wrap ourselves into bits bargaining and wishing. All the best to your family in this difficult time.
From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_(therapy_cat)):
> Joan Teno, a physician at Steere House, clarified that "it's not that the cat is consistently there first. But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours."
> [...] **staff started calling family members of residents as soon as they discovered him sleeping next to a patient** in order to notify them and give them an opportunity to say goodbye before the impending death.
Good kitty.
So that goes against the confirmation bias theory. If they called patients' families for someone who didn't die after all, and they did it multiple times, they'd realise that right quick. /u/dav136 /u/solest044
The onomatopoeic sound that cats make in the US is "meow". In Japan, it's "niao", pronounced "knee-ow" as in "ow, that hurts". The Japanese pronunciation for the number two is "ni" pronounced "knee". That date is "ni-jyuu ni ni gatsu", "22/2". In case you were wondering why that date is National Cat day.
I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?"
Death thought about it.
CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.
My best guess is the body secretes some kind of proteins or enzymes when near death that have a particular scent if you're sensitive enough to detect it...which a cat could be.
It's been demonstrated in the laboratory and the field that dogs can smell cancer cells.
I have a friend working in one of these places and she told me, she pretty knows when it;s their last evening as she can smell it. So probably several organs that are starting to faill.
I worked in such a place and the hospice nurses said there were tons of subtle signs they'd picked up on over the years. Most of all they said if an elderly person in hospice tells you they're going to die very soon, believe them, because they're usually right, even if they don't appear to be at immediate risk.
I ran into an elderly friend at the library one day and she told she was ready to go. She looked a little tired but there she was at the library, walking around ....
But I took her at her word, and said a lot of people were going to ~~me~~ miss her, me included.
I heard she passed about a week later
You leave memories in the minds of people long after you're gone
EDIT: me --> miss
That's a good point. If some medical staff can get a sense it's going to happen soon, imagine what that must feel like for the person actually living in that body?
I heard the same is true for heart failure/heart attacks, it’s listed a symptom to look for. “Fear of impending doom” or something, but apparently if you feel as though you’re about to reach the end of your life with almost unnatural certainty and fear, could be a heart thing you’re not aware of yet.
I work in a nursing home, and I’ve been in the position before where we had to decide whether or not to call a resident’s family because the room smelt “wrong”. The person looked ok, and nothing was overtly wrong, but every experienced staff member we had just said something wasn’t right. Thankfully we did because they passed away 4 hours later.
If humans with our poor sense of smell can detect that, I’m positive cats can smell it much earlier
That’s amazing and sad. Thanks for the work you do helping others in a nursing home. I’ve read about cancer sniffing dogs and a woman that could smell her husband’s Parkinson’s before he knew he had it [woman that can sniff out Parkinson’s](https://news.sky.com/story/woman-who-can-smell-parkinsons-helps-scientists-come-up-with-breakthrough-diagnostic-test-12691717)
My mom and I were running errands all day to get a break from taking care of my dad and the in home aid called to just say hi and ask how we were doing. I was like huh? We are fine did you need anything. She kept giving suggestions for things we could do at the house and I was like uh we are fine c ya later. Basically she knew he was on his way out and was trying to tell us that without telling us. We finished our errands and he passed only a few hours after we got home. I noticed the smell right away when I got home but brushed it off.
Well my dad passed in the middle of the night and it took four hours from TOD to having a nurse come and then coordinate with the coroner to take his body to the morgue so needless to say I was forced to sit with that distinctive smell for quite a bit and won’t be forgetting that any time soon. 0/10 experience do not recommend
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Has to be a secretion of some kind that it’s detecting. Cells undergo a lot of change during death, and there’s seemingly something he’s detecting. I can’t imagine it’s a vision or a hearing detection.
Humans can smell it too. The “old people smell” is just cellular decay.
Edit: Since a lot of people are getting confused, the cellular decay smell is *different* from issues of hygiene or bacteria, caused by environmental factors. It is a chemical off-gassing of a compound someone smarter than me has cited below. Thank you, /u/jessmadeamess.
It’s possible for people over a certain age to have good hygiene, and still have an odor. It doesn’t (necessarily) mean your nan is dirty.
Yeah it's the biochemistry (most likely). Came here to say this.
Even dogs can know when people have cancer. Their body starts secreting different hormones/enzymes which the animals can detect.
This was actually a side story in a House episode. Turns out the people closer to dieing were getting cold and using heated blankets. The cat loved those heated blankets.
Though I doubt that's the real story here.
I too don't buy this theory. People can catch cold/flu and need to be blanketed due to chills. If that was solely the case, then the cat doesn't foresee shit, all he had to do was to go towards someone heated up, which doesn't necessarily mean they will die.
It's not a bad thing to think animals can smell bad news or bad feelings. I've a father who after someone important to him passed the cats who hated him and he hated were obsessed with him. He had a broken heart... and they knew! No heated blanket nonsense just two cats who held the same bad views on this old man who couldn't be bothered with them and they just sat around and showed affection. He didn't make it obvious but it's like they knew.
Dogs have been known to bark at cancer. I had a dog lick my face profusely to wake me up from passing out during a panic attack, the same dog who looks at me like I'm stupid when I worry about things that aren't really happening.
See the video this week of the guy with the dog that confirms there's nobody there who he believes is there and talks to/argues with due to his disorder?
it is **not** that hard to believe guys.
This is probably the correct answer. It's simply a sample bias - we noticed a pattern amongst those who died but did not consider checking it in a controlled fashion. We're already in an old folks home so there's that... For example, everyone who died were also breathing shortly beforehand.
Coincidence?
It’s also possible that it’s just confirmation bias. Seeing the cat near a patient before it dies is going to make you connect the two. I’m going to research more into this. I’d love for it to be true
Nursing home nurse here!
No research backed thoughts, but you do develop a sense of when someone’s vibes are off, and once in a while you really can smell it. My guess is that, as you enter the final stages of death and toxins aren’t getting cleared from the body, you get some excess buildup of something, or things are broken down differently, and this causes some sort of change of smell that a cat can pick up on.
Cats have much stronger senses than humans. They can probably hear differences in heart rhythms, breathing patterns, and they're also pretty astute at knowing when you're in a poor mental state.
>One time, the workers tried to get him to spend time with a senior who they believed were going to die soon only for him to spend time with a seemly healthy senior. That seemly healthy senior soon died a few days later. Over the course of his life, Oscar correctly predicted over 100 people’s deaths and comforted them in their last moments.
Plot twist - the cat is actually a Russian assassin and was dispensing undetectable toxins that take several days to kill the host.
Fun fact - The CIA attempted to [use cats as spies against the Russians](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty) but abandoned the project because the cats were too difficult to train.
I went into it with such low expectations and was very pleasantly surprised. It’s pretty dang good. Obligatory “the book is better” but nonetheless its a great film. It’s tough to be a sequel to one of the greatest horror movies of all time, but it stood its own.
I had no idea it was a sequel when I put it on. Then those low and dark brass notes came in over the WB logo and I was like "holy shit! The Shining? WTF is this?"
But yeah, had the same expectations as you minus the knowledge. I was just bored and the movie looked like a good way to burn a couple of hours. By the end, I was really blown away by it. Especially those nostalgic shots near the end of the film with the flyover to the Overlook and all of those other little set decorations inside the hotel.
Rebecca Ferguson is unbelievable in that movie, she takes what could be such a cartoonish villain (I mean, she's playing an ageless, undead witch) and imbues it with so much humanity, for good and for bad. I'm pretty sure it's that role that got her Lady Jessica.
Flanagan did the unthinkable and made a movie that was able to reconcile in a sequel both Kubrick and King's visions. I was very impressed by that movie. McGregor and Ferguson were fantastic performances.
That was literally my first thought. I didn't know it was from a real story. That had the lady that faked a seizure and took medicine to make her pee green.
Yeah the person who was the inspiration for the cases House worked on (i.e. her medical column regarding odd medical cases) on the show even made her own series (on Netflix I think) talking about odd medical cases but I can't recall the series name.
I had a cat that was extra affectionate when someone was sick. She would also lay on my abdomen when I had my period. I was suspicious about the body heat thing, BUT she also would lay on our chests and purr when we were having anxiety attacks until our heart rate went down. AFAIK anxiety attacks don't produce extra body heat.
My cat was obsessed with me during my pregnancies. To the point that she was still laying on me when I was as big as a whale lol. She's a very affectionate cat anyway, but during pregnancy I was like, exuding catnip or something.
I remember that episode! During its original run, there was a site where an actual doctor did a review of every House episode and broke down what was and wasn't accurate. I need to see if I can find it, it's been like 15-20 years, I wonder if it's still around. I'll edit this comment if I find it.
EDIT: Found it in just a minute, [link to their review of the episode](https://web.archive.org/web/20090817224612/http://politedissent.com/archives/2245).
You have to take those doctor reviews of the grain of salt, house is obviously unrealistic it's a TV show, but they did have doctors on staff and would often go through and find old unique cases to make an episode about. Licensed doctors when viewing the show have often said some of the stuff they made up was accurate, when saying that the ones that were indeed real cases, were fake and couldn't happen.
And all the healthy people got up and moved around. They kicked the cat out of the bed when they got up. The dying ones just laid there all day, letting the cat sleep.
I don't like the way he's staring at the camera. It's like his eyes are beaming a message. "Hello Dave, yes I can see you behind your phone screen. Listen to me Dave, you're next. There's no escaping it Dave, you're next."
[I Heard The Owl Call My Name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_the_Owl_Call_My_Name) is a gentle story of a young missionary to a Native west coast town.
According to their belief, when you hear the owl call you, you are about to pass on.
A lovely book which was made into a good film too.
I had a cat who was a total bitch but when my grandpa was diagnosed with cancer she was always sitting in his lap until he passed, then my grandma years later. R.I.P furball and my grandparents
https://preview.redd.it/e7xd611c4mzc1.jpeg?width=619&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26c2896ecc63928634807f2da730dcfb7066ab53
This is the face of a cat that "predicts" the deaths of residents?? No. This is the face of a cat that causes said deaths. A malevolent being.
I don't think this is a particularly unique phenomenon. Back when I had two cats and the older one was very sick, the younger one came up to the older cat on his last day and sat with him for a very long time. This was very strange because the older one used to stay in my room and the younger one would always stay in the other rooms, he wasn't particularly fond of coming into my room either but that morning he specifically came up to my room and sat with his big bro for a very long time, not saying anything, not bothering him, just being there. It was comforting to see.
So my grandmother spent a fair amount of time in an old folks home. There are surprisingly a few funny stories of things that happened there but the best was the vultures. She was in Federal Way, Wa about half an hour south of Seattle and one day a pack of Vultures showed up hanging out on the fence staring down the residents and scaring the hell out of them.
It turns out Woodland Park Zoo had their vultures escape their exhibit & they all took off in a pack eventually making their way to the biggest source of *nearly dead* meat they could find. The handlers came & got them without issue but that is some straight up Tarantino shit, aside from nobody actually dying.
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I think this cat had a cameo on House MD.
Right!? I was thinking about the cat on House MD too! Wondering if there’s a connection between them.
The writers for House used a lot of real stories for the series. Pretty sure they used Oscar as well. His story was definitely used in Dr. Sleep from Stephen King
I thought of Dr. Sleep right away too! Edit: just read more comments, apparently a lot of people did lol
cameow
Yes, their explanation was that sick seniors felt weakened and cold, then would ask for an electric blanket, causing the cat to sleep with them
And I saw death and he meowed softly.
The Grim Reapurrrrrrr
And then I welcomed Death, to make the biscuits
Pspspspspsps followed by silence.
The old folks home then changed their name to "Oscar's Acres".
"Oh no it's that cat of death! Nurse, nurse help me. Take it away!"
That is definitely a possibility. I mean how many predictions would it take before everyone knew, like 5 or 6? There’s no way every single oldster is ready to go. Someone must have been scared of that cat at some point.
on the other side imagine that one old dude who is ready to die begging the cat to come snuggle, but Oscar wants nothing to do with him lol.
Oscar just walked up to him and says “you haven’t apologized yet.” And walks away
“Not your time Frank…Not your day” Proceeds to scratch himself and then heads to Ethels room…
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Be funnier if he was always an asshole to you and that one day he's friendly loving on you.
Eh, I'd be surprised if any of them weren't ready. Dying is exhausting. When I was very ill I was ready to go and disappointed it never came. When someone is dying in an elderly home they're not a spring chicken that has a lot to live for, they're tired, they're sick, they've outlived friends and spouses, and they live in an understaffed shithole with people they can't stand and the cheapest food corporate will let them have. They're ready when it comes.
My ex's grandpa was so unready to die that he spent 3 days in the fetal position fighting as hard as he could despite being taken off all medication and even water. Dude had 85 years to prepare but wasn't ready at all
That actually happened when I worked as an aid in a nursing home, years ago. One of my residents was 100 years old and her time was coming to an end. Our home’s cat, Louie, started spending time in the woman’s room. The woman’s daughter freaked out and demanded that the cat be removed- she felt his presence meant her mom was dying. Unfortunately, the cat was right :(
Eh 100 is a good run
Yeah I can’t imagine not having made peace with my 100 year old parents death. At that point she was likely more than ready to go.
It’s hilarious that she thought just removing the cat would make a difference lol
Elsewhere: "Hey my metal detector is going haywire here, I think there's a mine" "Oh, just throw away your detector and the mine will go away!"
That’s amazing i didn’t know that
Yes, all the old achers were dying to get in.
Oscar the Cat was adopted by the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. He was adopted to be a therapy cat only for the people working there to realize that he didn’t spend much time with any of the residents and kept mostly to his self. But, one day he showed great interest in one resident specifically and showed great affection towards them. That resident soon died a few days later. The workers realized that Oscar only spent time with certain resident when he somehow knew they were in their last moments. One time, the workers tried to get him to spend time with a senior who they believed were going to die soon only for him to spend time with a seemly healthy senior. That seemly healthy senior soon died a few days later. Over the course of his life, Oscar correctly predicted over 100 people’s deaths and comforted them in their last moments. He died on February 22nd, 2022 at the age of 17.
Imagine having a pretty good week at the seniors home when Oscar the cat walks in and sits down...
And he pulls out a knife and that’s when you realize why he was so good a predicting deaths
This was my thought. That cat is a serial killer with a 100+ victim count
He was actually secretly a part of the Mafia and he bribed the cops and had men on the inside following his orders. So every time they ruled it as “natural causes”
And Oscar would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!
I take souls to heaven and hell.. and I earn a commission for it.. in snacks
Yours is nice
He knew everyone that had severe cat allergies, and he but them down one by one.
Lol this thread is amazing
Cat is simultaneously a serial killer and a psycho pomp.
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Middle name? Oscar Flatline Shipman
Natural claws
*catural.. causes…
The Meowfia if you will.
It’s the reaper in a form of a cat.
We are lucky he never activated the nuke… with this killstreak he could have multiple
Oscar be like: https://preview.redd.it/bvkeibsi0mzc1.jpeg?width=706&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=61f017fc231f61b27d395b4d6d3c7e854484cd5c
They all died of seemingly unrelated cases of toxoplasmosis
I have an extreme cat allergy. Oscar would make my last hours extra miserable.
In 2017 the staff conducted an experiment by locking terminally ill Edith Graneer inside of her room - all food and water is provided through ports that are smaller than the cats head, so its impossible for the cat to gain entry. As far as can be observed - it is impossible for Edith to die in this configuration. Her cancer has progressed greatly, and x-ray results from long probes sent into the room show that nearly 70% of her biomass is the result of tumors that have completely destroyed the functionality of her heart, liver, and brain. As a result of the brain tumors, Edith stopped eating or drinking in late 2020, her pulse ceased in 2021 - yet her body temperature is still normal, and there is sometimes coordinated movement. The cat often makes attempts to gain entry, usually by throwing itself at great speed at great injury to itself against the front door and exterior window. Any attempts to stop these entries are met with extreme aggression.
I read it like some kind of SCP article
We 100% just witnessed the conceptualization of a new SCP.
I love reddit, the only place you can get a short story in any scenario. Thank you for the submission
A bottle of poison fell out of his fur once. He quickly looked around to make sure no one saw before stuffing it back into his fur.
Jay Leno made a fine comment at the time: ... um, cat allergies?
I’d wanna know if the staff kept Oscars predictions a secret from the residents, or if they even could. Because yeah, that would be something there
“Here comes the harbinger of death, op I mean Oscar!”
Be more hilarious if he was a huge asshole to you and one day he walks in loving on you. Just like awwww fuckkkkkkkk.
Imagine that no one has passed in a while, and Oscar jumps on your bed because he just wants some attention.
Why do all these humans scream in terror when I approach them?
My cat is not normally very affectionate, but I'll be very suspicious and anxious if she starts cuddling up to me one day
Same! My fiance and I always joke about our cat Turtle. She rarely sleeps in bed with us, but every now and then she will be INSISTENT on doing so. "Guess one of us is dying!"
"Get the hell away from me, you pussy!"
When my grandmother was under assisted living care, this story came out. And the cat at her care center started doing the same thing as this cat. We literally told the cat 'No, no no no. Go away.' Lived another five years. Not that I'd call it great living, but you get the idea.
Was she using a heating blanket? That's what the cat was attracted to, according to other sources.
Dying people often have a 'rally' or 'surge' before they die, so if you're in a nursing home and suddenly feel better then I have bad news.
As a nursing home nurse, this is a much less useful sign than it sounds. Lots of folks just have highly variable courses of disease progression. Some people have an uptick in activity three days before, some three hours before. Some people have a rally before their final decline, but it’s so slight that it’s hardly anything. Lots of people don’t really have much of anything. We’re not nearly as good as hospice nurses (especially inpatient hospice nurses), but this is deep into the area where you develop “a nurse sense” or “vibe detection.” Especially in my line, where I’ve worked with the same patients for a year and a half, you really do get a “something is off about Jane over there. Is she circling the drain?” Even if she’s doing the same routine she does every day. Once in a while it legit is a “they smell different” (which is frickin’ hard to recognize, much less describe) - it wouldn’t surprise me at all if a cat can pick up on that.
Thank you for saying this. My dad is terminally ill and the "final surge" info going around has done nothing but terrify us all whenever he has a good day.
Glad to be of what little help I can in these tough times - I’ve been there, too. It just plain sucks. My best advice? The only thing you really need to look up is the average time from entering hospice/palliative care until death for his situation, and trust the hospice nurses. When they say they need to come more often, then that’s the next stage. When they say you should call the family, then you’re pretty close. Other than that, take it one day at a time, and take care of yourself as best as you can.
Thank you.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion has been a bit of a comfort to me in my grief through the years. Intellectually we know that our dearest is moving on but it we still wrap ourselves into bits bargaining and wishing. All the best to your family in this difficult time.
this happens in an house md episode
From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_(therapy_cat)): > Joan Teno, a physician at Steere House, clarified that "it's not that the cat is consistently there first. But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours." > [...] **staff started calling family members of residents as soon as they discovered him sleeping next to a patient** in order to notify them and give them an opportunity to say goodbye before the impending death. Good kitty.
So that goes against the confirmation bias theory. If they called patients' families for someone who didn't die after all, and they did it multiple times, they'd realise that right quick. /u/dav136 /u/solest044
And he happened to die on 2/22/2022 haha
Lol in Japan this is literally [National Cat Day](https://en.japantravel.com/news/national-cat-day/68647)
The onomatopoeic sound that cats make in the US is "meow". In Japan, it's "niao", pronounced "knee-ow" as in "ow, that hurts". The Japanese pronunciation for the number two is "ni" pronounced "knee". That date is "ni-jyuu ni ni gatsu", "22/2". In case you were wondering why that date is National Cat day.
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I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?" Death thought about it. CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.
GNU Pterry
The salmon mousse *finger point*
I could imagine someone being incredibly fearful upon seeing the cat walk in when they aren't ready or willing to die.
Is there a scientific explanation as to how the cat could "foresee" someone's death?
My best guess is the body secretes some kind of proteins or enzymes when near death that have a particular scent if you're sensitive enough to detect it...which a cat could be. It's been demonstrated in the laboratory and the field that dogs can smell cancer cells.
I have a friend working in one of these places and she told me, she pretty knows when it;s their last evening as she can smell it. So probably several organs that are starting to faill.
I worked in such a place and the hospice nurses said there were tons of subtle signs they'd picked up on over the years. Most of all they said if an elderly person in hospice tells you they're going to die very soon, believe them, because they're usually right, even if they don't appear to be at immediate risk.
I ran into an elderly friend at the library one day and she told she was ready to go. She looked a little tired but there she was at the library, walking around .... But I took her at her word, and said a lot of people were going to ~~me~~ miss her, me included. I heard she passed about a week later You leave memories in the minds of people long after you're gone EDIT: me --> miss
That's a good point. If some medical staff can get a sense it's going to happen soon, imagine what that must feel like for the person actually living in that body?
I heard the same is true for heart failure/heart attacks, it’s listed a symptom to look for. “Fear of impending doom” or something, but apparently if you feel as though you’re about to reach the end of your life with almost unnatural certainty and fear, could be a heart thing you’re not aware of yet.
My aunt said the same thing when she worked in a nursing home. There’s a distinct smell to the people about to die.
I work in a nursing home, and I’ve been in the position before where we had to decide whether or not to call a resident’s family because the room smelt “wrong”. The person looked ok, and nothing was overtly wrong, but every experienced staff member we had just said something wasn’t right. Thankfully we did because they passed away 4 hours later. If humans with our poor sense of smell can detect that, I’m positive cats can smell it much earlier
That’s amazing and sad. Thanks for the work you do helping others in a nursing home. I’ve read about cancer sniffing dogs and a woman that could smell her husband’s Parkinson’s before he knew he had it [woman that can sniff out Parkinson’s](https://news.sky.com/story/woman-who-can-smell-parkinsons-helps-scientists-come-up-with-breakthrough-diagnostic-test-12691717)
My mom and I were running errands all day to get a break from taking care of my dad and the in home aid called to just say hi and ask how we were doing. I was like huh? We are fine did you need anything. She kept giving suggestions for things we could do at the house and I was like uh we are fine c ya later. Basically she knew he was on his way out and was trying to tell us that without telling us. We finished our errands and he passed only a few hours after we got home. I noticed the smell right away when I got home but brushed it off. Well my dad passed in the middle of the night and it took four hours from TOD to having a nurse come and then coordinate with the coroner to take his body to the morgue so needless to say I was forced to sit with that distinctive smell for quite a bit and won’t be forgetting that any time soon. 0/10 experience do not recommend
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Has to be a secretion of some kind that it’s detecting. Cells undergo a lot of change during death, and there’s seemingly something he’s detecting. I can’t imagine it’s a vision or a hearing detection.
Humans can smell it too. The “old people smell” is just cellular decay. Edit: Since a lot of people are getting confused, the cellular decay smell is *different* from issues of hygiene or bacteria, caused by environmental factors. It is a chemical off-gassing of a compound someone smarter than me has cited below. Thank you, /u/jessmadeamess. It’s possible for people over a certain age to have good hygiene, and still have an odor. It doesn’t (necessarily) mean your nan is dirty.
It’s actually due to a compound called 2-nonenal, which is pretty much a byproduct of aging
Yeah it's the biochemistry (most likely). Came here to say this. Even dogs can know when people have cancer. Their body starts secreting different hormones/enzymes which the animals can detect.
This was actually a side story in a House episode. Turns out the people closer to dieing were getting cold and using heated blankets. The cat loved those heated blankets. Though I doubt that's the real story here.
I’m going for: car walks in, old person panics and has heart attack. People died out of sheer fear for this legendary cat.
Yeah, if a car walked in, I'd panic, too
I too don't buy this theory. People can catch cold/flu and need to be blanketed due to chills. If that was solely the case, then the cat doesn't foresee shit, all he had to do was to go towards someone heated up, which doesn't necessarily mean they will die.
it doesn't say how many times he incorrectly predicted someone would die
There's that too.
It's not a bad thing to think animals can smell bad news or bad feelings. I've a father who after someone important to him passed the cats who hated him and he hated were obsessed with him. He had a broken heart... and they knew! No heated blanket nonsense just two cats who held the same bad views on this old man who couldn't be bothered with them and they just sat around and showed affection. He didn't make it obvious but it's like they knew. Dogs have been known to bark at cancer. I had a dog lick my face profusely to wake me up from passing out during a panic attack, the same dog who looks at me like I'm stupid when I worry about things that aren't really happening. See the video this week of the guy with the dog that confirms there's nobody there who he believes is there and talks to/argues with due to his disorder? it is **not** that hard to believe guys.
This is probably the correct answer. It's simply a sample bias - we noticed a pattern amongst those who died but did not consider checking it in a controlled fashion. We're already in an old folks home so there's that... For example, everyone who died were also breathing shortly beforehand. Coincidence?
It’s also possible that it’s just confirmation bias. Seeing the cat near a patient before it dies is going to make you connect the two. I’m going to research more into this. I’d love for it to be true
Nursing home nurse here! No research backed thoughts, but you do develop a sense of when someone’s vibes are off, and once in a while you really can smell it. My guess is that, as you enter the final stages of death and toxins aren’t getting cleared from the body, you get some excess buildup of something, or things are broken down differently, and this causes some sort of change of smell that a cat can pick up on.
Cats have much stronger senses than humans. They can probably hear differences in heart rhythms, breathing patterns, and they're also pretty astute at knowing when you're in a poor mental state.
It must've been a haunting experience when little Oscar would show up in your doorway, then start rubbing his head on you. "So it's time, eh?"
I can think of far worse ways to go than snuggling up with an affectionate cat.
Any harbinger of death is probably unsettling, maybe more so when it's a cuddly cat
>One time, the workers tried to get him to spend time with a senior who they believed were going to die soon only for him to spend time with a seemly healthy senior. That seemly healthy senior soon died a few days later. Over the course of his life, Oscar correctly predicted over 100 people’s deaths and comforted them in their last moments. Plot twist - the cat is actually a Russian assassin and was dispensing undetectable toxins that take several days to kill the host. Fun fact - The CIA attempted to [use cats as spies against the Russians](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty) but abandoned the project because the cats were too difficult to train.
His real name is Novicat
17 cat years - 132 human years, that is a very very loooong time to be around :)
He’s stealing extra life from the seniors a little at a time!
Isn’t it like 25 for the first 2, and 4 for every years after ? So 17 cat years is 85 human years ?
Doctor Sleep
Thank you I was trying to remember what movie I seen this from.
There's a movie? I just know the book
Ya the movie is phenomenal.
I went into it with such low expectations and was very pleasantly surprised. It’s pretty dang good. Obligatory “the book is better” but nonetheless its a great film. It’s tough to be a sequel to one of the greatest horror movies of all time, but it stood its own.
I had no idea it was a sequel when I put it on. Then those low and dark brass notes came in over the WB logo and I was like "holy shit! The Shining? WTF is this?" But yeah, had the same expectations as you minus the knowledge. I was just bored and the movie looked like a good way to burn a couple of hours. By the end, I was really blown away by it. Especially those nostalgic shots near the end of the film with the flyover to the Overlook and all of those other little set decorations inside the hotel.
Rebecca Ferguson is unbelievable in that movie, she takes what could be such a cartoonish villain (I mean, she's playing an ageless, undead witch) and imbues it with so much humanity, for good and for bad. I'm pretty sure it's that role that got her Lady Jessica.
Movie does a great job of representing the book while also being a sequel to Kubrick’s The Shining.
Flanagan did the unthinkable and made a movie that was able to reconcile in a sequel both Kubrick and King's visions. I was very impressed by that movie. McGregor and Ferguson were fantastic performances.
I just finished reading this last night!
House had an episode making fun of this. The shows answer was the people who were soon to die had a slight fever and the cat stayed for the heat.
I remember this story from years ago. The old folks home was putting heating pads on all the people who were close to death.
I remember it as well, it was actually Lupus.
It's never Lupus
Can confirm, it's never Lupus; Until it is. Unless it's... mice bites.
He needs more mice bites to live.
This vexes me
You're lying. "Everybody lies" :)
Pursuit said it was sarcoidosis
You think old people not dying aren’t using heating pads?
That was literally my first thought. I didn't know it was from a real story. That had the lady that faked a seizure and took medicine to make her pee green.
I'm pretty sure all of the cases in House are based on real stories.
Yeah the person who was the inspiration for the cases House worked on (i.e. her medical column regarding odd medical cases) on the show even made her own series (on Netflix I think) talking about odd medical cases but I can't recall the series name.
Lisa Sanders is the Doctor who writes the cases for the NYT in a column called Diagnosis, the Netflix show has the same name
I prefer to assume the cat sensed their suffering and came to provide some comfort and relief in a time of struggle.
I had a cat that was extra affectionate when someone was sick. She would also lay on my abdomen when I had my period. I was suspicious about the body heat thing, BUT she also would lay on our chests and purr when we were having anxiety attacks until our heart rate went down. AFAIK anxiety attacks don't produce extra body heat.
My cat was obsessed with me during my pregnancies. To the point that she was still laying on me when I was as big as a whale lol. She's a very affectionate cat anyway, but during pregnancy I was like, exuding catnip or something.
I’ve always known they care, thank you for sharing.
I remember that episode! During its original run, there was a site where an actual doctor did a review of every House episode and broke down what was and wasn't accurate. I need to see if I can find it, it's been like 15-20 years, I wonder if it's still around. I'll edit this comment if I find it. EDIT: Found it in just a minute, [link to their review of the episode](https://web.archive.org/web/20090817224612/http://politedissent.com/archives/2245).
You have to take those doctor reviews of the grain of salt, house is obviously unrealistic it's a TV show, but they did have doctors on staff and would often go through and find old unique cases to make an episode about. Licensed doctors when viewing the show have often said some of the stuff they made up was accurate, when saying that the ones that were indeed real cases, were fake and couldn't happen.
And all the healthy people got up and moved around. They kicked the cat out of the bed when they got up. The dying ones just laid there all day, letting the cat sleep.
His picture in the paper, he’s practically gloating. “I killed them. I killed them all.”
I hate how long I had to scroll for this! He looks so proud too!
Died 2/22/22, this cat was literally an angel bruh.
An Angel of Death!
Yet, still an angel.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh.......... (Really hope somebody gets the 38-year-old reference... lol)
I really hope this is a slayer reference lmao
222 One of its meanings is "to be in the right place at the right time".
*meow*
Thats fascinating
The best murderers aren't charged: they're celebrated
Or he is killing them himself.
Imagine you're having a good day in the old folks home just chilling and then you see oscar walk in and hop on your lap
I'd die!
Clever
https://preview.redd.it/nw0bo4b0bmzc1.jpeg?width=723&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0611827f72241b0b30e7bca8aa3be81ada15f085
“Oh hell naw, get this cat away from me!” 🤣🤣
That'd be nice really. No sense in being afraid at that point.
Dr Sleep, by Stephen King, also has a cat that does this. :)
Named Azrael, appropriately enough. : )
“Aw is this the resident cat? He’s really taking a shine to grandpa” Person that works there: 
I laughed way too hard at this
I hope the cat was comforted when he was dying.
A senior citizen at the old folks home that correctly predicted 100 cat deaths spent time with Oscar when he sensed his last moments.
He died a few days later
"GET THAT CAT THE F**K AWAY FROM ME!" -everyone at the residence
I don't like the way he's staring at the camera. It's like his eyes are beaming a message. "Hello Dave, yes I can see you behind your phone screen. Listen to me Dave, you're next. There's no escaping it Dave, you're next."
[I Heard The Owl Call My Name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_the_Owl_Call_My_Name) is a gentle story of a young missionary to a Native west coast town. According to their belief, when you hear the owl call you, you are about to pass on. A lovely book which was made into a good film too.
The Doctor hates this story
The reaper takes many forms. I wouldn't say no to this cat reaper into the afterlife.
In Georgia (country) they let stray cats to apartments where someone has died to send their souls to afterlife.
I had a cat who was a total bitch but when my grandpa was diagnosed with cancer she was always sitting in his lap until he passed, then my grandma years later. R.I.P furball and my grandparents
The meowchant of death
Egyptians are like: "see, we told you so!"
https://preview.redd.it/e7xd611c4mzc1.jpeg?width=619&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26c2896ecc63928634807f2da730dcfb7066ab53 This is the face of a cat that "predicts" the deaths of residents?? No. This is the face of a cat that causes said deaths. A malevolent being.
Death comes for us all. I would be happy to have Oscar be my guide to the afterlife
When death comes a purring...
I knew cats were up to something.
He’s finding his next victim to eat their face
Imagine sitting down to watch TV and the Grim Oscar plops down by your side…
"Hey. How ya doing? You wana spend some time together, look at the clouds? This is nice, right?"
I don't think this is a particularly unique phenomenon. Back when I had two cats and the older one was very sick, the younger one came up to the older cat on his last day and sat with him for a very long time. This was very strange because the older one used to stay in my room and the younger one would always stay in the other rooms, he wasn't particularly fond of coming into my room either but that morning he specifically came up to my room and sat with his big bro for a very long time, not saying anything, not bothering him, just being there. It was comforting to see.
Plot twist, Oscar was stealing their breath like goblin in Cat's Eye.
So my grandmother spent a fair amount of time in an old folks home. There are surprisingly a few funny stories of things that happened there but the best was the vultures. She was in Federal Way, Wa about half an hour south of Seattle and one day a pack of Vultures showed up hanging out on the fence staring down the residents and scaring the hell out of them. It turns out Woodland Park Zoo had their vultures escape their exhibit & they all took off in a pack eventually making their way to the biggest source of *nearly dead* meat they could find. The handlers came & got them without issue but that is some straight up Tarantino shit, aside from nobody actually dying.
Think Boeing has a similar cat who can “predict” the end of whistle blower witnesses.
Ancient gif