Oscar (cat)
Encyclopedia
Oscar is a therapy cat
living in the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Rhode Island, United States. He came to public attention in July 2007 when he was featured in an article by David Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor at Brown University, in the New England Journal of Medicine
. According to Dosa, Oscar appears able to predict the impending death of terminally ill patients. Explanations for this ability include the lack of movement in such patients, or that the cat can smell ketone
s, the biochemicals released by dying cells.
Oscar became the subject of a book by Dosa in 2010, Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat.
and grew up in the third-floor end-stage dementia
unit at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence
, Rhode Island
. The 41-bed unit treats people with Alzheimer's
, Parkinson's disease
and other illnesses, most of whom are in the end stage of life and are generally unaware of their surroundings.
Oscar was one of six cats adopted by Steere House, which bills itself as a "pet friendly" facility (a variety of pets visit and reside at the facility), after the death of Steere House's original therapy pet Henry (named for benefactor Henry J. Steere
).
Oscar's accuracy (which stood at more than 25 consecutive reported instances when the NEJM article was written) led the staff to institute a new and unusual protocol: once he is discovered sleeping with a patient, staff will call family members to notify them of the patient's (expected) impending death.
Most of the time the patient's family has no issue with Oscar being present at the time of death; on those occasions when he is removed from the room at the family's request, he is known to pace back and forth in front of the door and meow in protest. When present, Oscar will stay by the patient until they die, then after death will quietly leave the room.
Oscar is described by Dr. David Dosa as "not a cat that’s friendly to [living] people." One example of this was described in his NEJM
article. When an elderly woman with a walker
passed him by during his rounds, Oscar "[let] out a gentle hiss, a rattlesnake-like warning that [said] 'leave me alone.'"
As of January 2010, Oscar had accurately predicted approximately 50 patients' deaths.
Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
in Providence who cares for Steere House residents and sees Oscar on a regular basis, said: "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."
Dr. Dosa (also affiliated with Alpert Medical School), who describes the phenomenon in an essay in the July 26 issue of the NEJM
, says that "(Oscar) doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," speculating that "the cat might be picking up on specific odors surrounding death." Dr. Teno supports this view: "I think there are certain chemicals released when someone is dying, and he is smelling and sensing those."
Some animal behavior experts say the explanation about Oscar sensing a smell associated with dying is a plausible one. "I suspect he is smelling some chemical released just before dying," says Margie Scherk, a veterinarian
in Vancouver
, British Columbia
and president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. "Cats can smell a lot of things we can't," she says. "And cats can certainly detect illness." Dr. Jill Goldman, a certified applied animal behaviorist in Laguna Beach, California
says that "Cats have a superb sense of smell," adding that keeping a dying patient company may also be learned behavior. "There has been ample opportunity for him to make an association between 'that' smell [and death]".
The sense of smell may, however, be just one explanation. Dr. Daniel Estep, a certified applied animal behaviorist in Littleton, Colorado
suggests that "One of the things that happens with people who are dying is that they are not moving around much. Maybe the cat is picking up on the fact that the person on the bed is very quiet. It may not be smell or sounds, but just the lack of movement."
Dr. Thomas Graves, a feline
expert from the University of Illinois, told the BBC
: "Cats often can sense when their owners are sick or when another animal is sick. They can sense when the weather will change, they're famous for being sensitive to premonitions of earthquakes."
Pitlik (2009) used Oscar as a metaphor for the infection by carbapenem
-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae
. There is no definite evidence of the virulence of KPC, and this bacterial infection is not the cause for the patient's death, but an indication of the poor prognosis.
Therapy cat
Some nursing homes have therapy cats that are used to be companions to their elderly residents. Therapy cats are also sometimes used in hospitals to relax children who are staying there....
living in the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Rhode Island, United States. He came to public attention in July 2007 when he was featured in an article by David Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor at Brown University, in the New England Journal of Medicine
New England Journal of Medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
. According to Dosa, Oscar appears able to predict the impending death of terminally ill patients. Explanations for this ability include the lack of movement in such patients, or that the cat can smell ketone
Ketone
In organic chemistry, a ketone is an organic compound with the structure RCR', where R and R' can be a variety of atoms and groups of atoms. It features a carbonyl group bonded to two other carbon atoms. Many ketones are known and many are of great importance in industry and in biology...
s, the biochemicals released by dying cells.
Oscar became the subject of a book by Dosa in 2010, Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat.
Background
Oscar was adopted as a kitten from an animal shelterAnimal shelter
An animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost, or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats.Parrots, for example, are the third most common pet owned by people...
and grew up in the third-floor end-stage dementia
Dementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
unit at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
. The 41-bed unit treats people with Alzheimer's
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
, Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
and other illnesses, most of whom are in the end stage of life and are generally unaware of their surroundings.
Oscar was one of six cats adopted by Steere House, which bills itself as a "pet friendly" facility (a variety of pets visit and reside at the facility), after the death of Steere House's original therapy pet Henry (named for benefactor Henry J. Steere
Henry J. Steere
Henry Jonah Steere was a prominent American philanthropist and industrialist from Rhode Island.-Childhood:Henry J. Steere was born in Providence, Rhode Island on April 11, 1830 to Alice Smith and Jonah Steere , a manufacturer, saddler and harness maker. Henry was their only surviving child...
).
Death prediction
After about six months, the staff noticed that Oscar, just like the doctors and nurses, would make his own rounds. Oscar would sniff and observe patients, then curl up to sleep with certain ones. The patients he would sleep with often died within several hours of his arrival. One of the first cases involved a patient who had a blood clot in her leg that was ice cold at the time. Oscar wrapped his body around her leg and stayed until the woman died. In another instance, the doctor had made a determination of impending death based on the patient's condition, while Oscar simply walked away, causing the doctor to believe that Oscar's streak (12 at the time) had ended. However, it would be later discovered that the doctor's prognosis was simply 10 hours too early: Oscar later visited the patient, who died two hours later.Oscar's accuracy (which stood at more than 25 consecutive reported instances when the NEJM article was written) led the staff to institute a new and unusual protocol: once he is discovered sleeping with a patient, staff will call family members to notify them of the patient's (expected) impending death.
Most of the time the patient's family has no issue with Oscar being present at the time of death; on those occasions when he is removed from the room at the family's request, he is known to pace back and forth in front of the door and meow in protest. When present, Oscar will stay by the patient until they die, then after death will quietly leave the room.
Oscar is described by Dr. David Dosa as "not a cat that’s friendly to [living] people." One example of this was described in his NEJM
New England Journal of Medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
article. When an elderly woman with a walker
Walker (tool)
A walker or walking frame is a tool for disabled or elderly people who need additional support to maintain balance or stability while walking...
passed him by during his rounds, Oscar "[let] out a gentle hiss, a rattlesnake-like warning that [said] 'leave me alone.'"
As of January 2010, Oscar had accurately predicted approximately 50 patients' deaths.
Possible explanations
It is not certain if Oscar's behavior is scientifically significant. Nor is there certainty whether his behavior results from inborn abilities or is the result of learned behavior from him living nearly his entire life in an end-stage medical facility where death is quite common and expected.Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in Providence who cares for Steere House residents and sees Oscar on a regular basis, said: "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."
Dr. Dosa (also affiliated with Alpert Medical School), who describes the phenomenon in an essay in the July 26 issue of the NEJM
New England Journal of Medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
, says that "(Oscar) doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," speculating that "the cat might be picking up on specific odors surrounding death." Dr. Teno supports this view: "I think there are certain chemicals released when someone is dying, and he is smelling and sensing those."
Some animal behavior experts say the explanation about Oscar sensing a smell associated with dying is a plausible one. "I suspect he is smelling some chemical released just before dying," says Margie Scherk, a veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. "Cats can smell a lot of things we can't," she says. "And cats can certainly detect illness." Dr. Jill Goldman, a certified applied animal behaviorist in Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach is a seaside resort city and artist community located in southern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southwest of the county seat of Santa Ana...
says that "Cats have a superb sense of smell," adding that keeping a dying patient company may also be learned behavior. "There has been ample opportunity for him to make an association between 'that' smell [and death]".
The sense of smell may, however, be just one explanation. Dr. Daniel Estep, a certified applied animal behaviorist in Littleton, Colorado
Littleton, Colorado
Littleton is a Home Rule Municipality contained in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Littleton is a suburb of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and the 20th most populous city in the state of...
suggests that "One of the things that happens with people who are dying is that they are not moving around much. Maybe the cat is picking up on the fact that the person on the bed is very quiet. It may not be smell or sounds, but just the lack of movement."
Dr. Thomas Graves, a feline
Felinae
Felinae is a subfamily of the family Felidae which includes the genera and species listed below. Most are small to medium-sized cats, although the group does include some larger animals, such as the Cougar and Cheetah....
expert from the University of Illinois, told the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
: "Cats often can sense when their owners are sick or when another animal is sick. They can sense when the weather will change, they're famous for being sensitive to premonitions of earthquakes."
Pitlik (2009) used Oscar as a metaphor for the infection by carbapenem
Carbapenem
Carbapenems are a class of β-lactam antibiotics with a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity. They have a structure that renders them highly resistant to most β-lactamases...
-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative, non-motile, encapsulated, lactose fermenting, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped bacterium found in the normal flora of the mouth, skin, and intestines....
. There is no definite evidence of the virulence of KPC, and this bacterial infection is not the cause for the patient's death, but an indication of the poor prognosis.
In popular culture
- A fictionalized character bearing Oscar's name and likeness is used as the "host" of "The Oscar the Cat Show" on Sirius Satellite RadioSirius Satellite RadioSirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
's Raw DogRaw DogRaw Dog is an uncensored comedy station on Sirius Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio channel 99, replacing XM Comedy on channnel 150 on November 12, 2008. Raw Dog plays uncensored Comedy Programming and Stand-Up from various comedians...
uncensored comedy channel. - A cat with similar prediction abilities to Oscar appears in the "Here Kitty" episode of HouseHouse (TV series)House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
, in which his abilities are attributed to a preference for the warming blankets placed on patients dying of wasting diseases and for the natural warmth of patients dying of fevers. - A similar nursing home cat appeared in the comic strip "Crankshaft" in 2009.
- A cat with similar prediction abilities appears in the indie short "Saying Goodbye".
- A feature film is in development based on Dr. Dosa's book.
External links
- Cat Is Harbinger Of Death (video) Item in the CBS News, July 26, 2007.
- Oscar The 'Amazing Cat' (video) Interview with Dr. David Dosa, CBS News, July 26, 2007.
- Oscar the Cat Picture in The New England Journal of Medicine.