Yahoo News Fact Check: Therapy Cat Was Believed to Have Predicted Residents' Deaths at Nursing Home
Claim:
A cat living in a nursing home was believed by staff members to have accurately predicted the deaths of many of the facility's residents.
Rating:
Context:
There is no direct evidence outside of anecdotal testimony from the staff of the nursing home, to support the cat's alleged prediction abilities, but a few speculative scientific explanations were proposed.
A claim that a nursing home therapy cat was believed by staff to have predicted the deaths of many of its residents circulated on Reddit in April 2024, receiving 79,000 upvotes as of this writing.
Most of the comments on the thread were sarcastic or a showcase of gallows humor, but some displayed empathy. "I am a hospice nurse and this happens frequently with animals. They do not leave their owners' side when they are close to dying," one user wrote.
(Jjokes11 on Reddit)
A different person shared a personal experience of cats providing comfort during a critical illness:
Cats have a special relationship with humans. 2 years ago, I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, as I started chemo, my cats began to give me much more attention than ever. They would lay on my chest, purring on top of the hidden softball sized tumor. After having my entire left lung removed, I came home to recover. My cats stayed by my side but they weren't interested in laying on my chest anymore. I'm 9 months cancer free and the kitties seem less worried about me now lol. But Keyga and Acemon are still my guardian angels.
The feline in question was named Oscar, and he was a real cat who lived at the nonprofit facility Steere House in Providence, Rhode Island. Steere House was established in 1874 and provides long-term care for patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.
The facility describes its mission as "an independent nonprofit organization, serving adults who require skilled, restorative and long-term care services within a secure and caring environment. Steere House also provides educational and research experiences that enhance the care of those we serve."
Oscar's story first came to prominence in a 2007 essay, titled "A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat," published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Its author, Dr. David Dosa, was a geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.
An excerpt of the essay describes Oscar making a visit to a patient and sniffing around, determining it wasn't their time, and then moving on:
Making his way back up the hallway, Oscar arrives at Room 313. The door is open, and he proceeds inside. Mrs. K. is resting peacefully in her bed, her breathing steady but shallow. She is surrounded by photographs of her grandchildren and one from her wedding day. Despite these keepsakes, she is alone. Oscar jumps onto her bed and again sniffs the air. He pauses to consider the situation, and then turns around twice before curling up beside Mrs. K.
One hour passes. Oscar waits. A nurse walks into the room to check on her patient. She pauses to note Oscar's presence. Concerned, she hurriedly leaves the room and returns to her desk. She grabs Mrs. K.'s chart off the medical records rack and begins to make phone calls.
Within a half hour the family starts to arrive. Chairs are brought into the room, where the relatives begin their vigil. The priest is called to deliver last rites. And still, Oscar has not budged, instead purring and gently nuzzling Mrs. K. A young grandson asks his mother, "What is the cat doing here?" The mother, fighting back tears, tells him, "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven." Thirty minutes later, Mrs. K. takes her last earthly breath. With this, Oscar sits up, looks around, then departs the room so quietly that the grieving family barely notices.
A note at the conclusion of Dosa's piece reads as follows:
Oscar the Cat has had an uncanny ability to predict when residents are about to die. Thus far, he has presided over the deaths of more than 25 residents on the third floor of Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island. His mere presence at the bedside is viewed by physicians and nursing home staff as an almost absolute indicator of impending death, allowing staff members to adequately notify families. Oscar has also provided companionship to those who would otherwise have died alone. For his work, he is highly regarded by the physicians and staff at Steere House and by the families of the residents whom he serves.
Dosa's essay shot the story of Oscar into popular culture at the time, garnering coverage from mainstream outlets like CBS News and Reuters, the latter of which reported the number of patients had gone up 50. In 2009, the hit TV medical drama "House" aired an episode called "Hello Kitty" that featured a plotline inspired by Oscar's story. Stephen King's 2013 novel "Doctor Sleep" also features a feline with a similar gift.
In 2010, Dosa published a book titled "Making the Rounds with Oscar," further detailing Oscar's alleged gift. A year later, Variety announced that a feature film based on Dosa's book was in development, though no movie was ever made.
In support of the book's release, Dosa appeared on the YouTube channel of his publisher, Hyperion Books. In an interview discussing Oscar, he said:
I think we were all a little skeptical at first. It's not something that you see everyday and this was a pretty unremarkable cat in every other capacity. Dementia is a horrible disease that takes so much from the patients, but it's really the caregivers, at the end, that suffer most. "Making the Rounds with Oscar" is really their story. It's the story of all of the difficult decisions that are made; it's the story of all the guilt and all of the emotions that are brought out at the end of life.
Possible scientific explanations for Oscar's apparent gift have been discussed in the medical community, and Dosa suggested it could be related to a study that "suggested that dogs could be trained to identify microscopic quantities of certain biochemicals excreted by cancer cells on the breaths of lung and breast cancer patients. Similar studies over the years have also identified melanoma-sniffing dogs and earthquake-predicting fish."
In the afterword to "Making the Rounds with Oscar," Dosa recounted a story told to him by a World War II medic who learned to recognize the smell of impending death on those he treated. Dosa continues:
There is a plausible biological explanation for that "sweet smell of death." As cells die, carbohydrates are degraded into many different oxygenated compounds including various types of ketones — chemical mixtures known for their fragrant aroma. Ketones are also found in abundance during episodes of untreated juvenile diabetes and doctors are taught early on in medical school to sniff the breaths of diabetics to determine if their sugar levels are high. Could it be that Oscar simply smells an elevated level of a chemical compound released prior to death? It is certainly clear that animals have a refined sense of smell that goes well beyond that of the ordinary human.
Ultimately, though, Dosa concludes that understanding the science behind it isn't necessarily of great import, considering the service Oscar's behavior provided.
It is Oscar's job to provide the critical companionship during the final hours… I don't really pretend to know the nature of Oscar's special gift — I am not an animal behaviorist nor have I rigorously studied the why and how of his behavior. Whether he is motivated by a refined sense of smell, a special empathy, or something entirely different — your guess is as good as mine. But I believe we can all learn from his example.
In February 2016, a post on Steere House's Facebook page gave Oscar the spotlight:
The post read, in part:
Oscar has demonstrated an ability to detect a patient's impending death and in doing so, he is able to provide a touch of comfort to the dying, elderly residents of Steere House's Safe Haven Advanced Care unit and their families who are dealing with the latter stages of Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of end-stage dementia.
In February 2022, another post on the Facebook page announced Oscar's death at age 17.
An image shared in the post featured text that read, "It is with sadness we announce that our pet therapy cat, Oscar, has passed away after 17 wonderful years. Oscar served our residents, staff, and families providing comfort and companionship for all. Beloved by our community, he passed with friends quietly, February 22, 2022."
Users chimed in with their sympathies, with one commenting, "Such a sweet cat. So sad to hear this. My mom loved his visits. RIP Osc." Another said, "He was a wonderful cat. I have a friend there Sandy very young with Alzheimer's and I would see him frequently and she would pet him. He's helped so many people."
While Dosa's original essay quantified the number of patients Oscar accompanied at the end of their life as 25 and the 2010 Reuters article reported 50, we have not yet been able to confirm the final number as of his death in 2022.
In 2015, Mirror Online, who spoke with Dosa for a piece on Oscar, reported the number had grown to more than 100. We've reached out to Dosa and Steere House for confirmation and will update this article if and when we hear back.
Sources:
- YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-R5wdywfZE. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.
Dosa, David. Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat. 1st ed., Hyperion, 2010.
Dosa, David M. "A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat." New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 357, no. 4, July 2007, pp. 328–29. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp078108.
Szawarski, Piotr. "Classic Cases Revisited: Oscar the Cat and Predicting Death." Journal of the Intensive Care Society, vol. 17, no. 4, Apr. 2016, p. 341. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, https://doi.org/10.1177/1751143716646123.
