Article explores feline's ability to foretell deaths at Rhode Island nursing center.......

    I realize that it has been a while since my last article, but came across one this morning that really, really caught my attention. Found it to be very fascinating because I could relate to it having many pets, both dogs and cats over the years.

    This one was buried within the pages of one of the many local newspapers I go through each day and I like to think it helps prove a point I have been trying to make for what seems like a very long time. The point is, family pets, specifically dogs and cats do have a very keen sense of awareness that we do not give them enough credit for.

    If we would just slow down a little and take the time to observe what is going on with nature on any given day, we would all have a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. No, I am not suggesting that we all carry around a crystal ball. I am suggesting that we all pay a little closer attention to what all the animals that surround us each day are preparing for.

    I begin each and every day by observing first the behavior and mannorism of my own kitties and my parakeets too. When my kitties are all sprawled out on some soft cushy platform and my parakeets are gleefully prancing from the top of their cage to the bottom, it signals to me that the day will be a good one.

    I open my back door, step outside to the patio and observe the behavior of the many animals, including the horses just down the street to see how they are behaving. If they are all preoccupied with their own daily lives, it tells me the day will be a relaxing one.

    This particular kitty named Oscar made it into the newspapers and the "New England Journal of Medicine" for his ability to predict which person, residing in the nursing home, will die and when. I find it very fascinating for the medical community to finally begin taking notice of the many abilities animals have had all along.

   "This stocky long haired cat lives among patients with severe dementia in an end state ward where death is common. The facility treats people with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease."

    For me, I take this personally because my mother, who I have not spoken with in many years, has recently been moved to a nursing home because she suffers from severe dementia as well as Alzheimer. Robert's mother is in the end stages of Parkinson's Disease and it is very difficult to remain on the side lines wishing there was something more we could do.

   "There are weeks that three or four people will die in that unit and Oscar will nail every one of them," said Dr. Dosa, who has repeatedly witnessed Oscar's odd gift. "It is a very surreal thing."

   "Usually about two to four hours before a patient dies, Oscar goes to them. He hops on to the bed, curls up and stays with them."

   "The cat's 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," Dr. Dosa wrote in the article.

   "Another doctor who treats people at Steere House, Joan Teno, confirms that Oscar "always manages to make an appearance and it always seems to be around the last two hours."

   "Dying is a process that occurs over days," she said. "It is not like the cat parks himself there several days in advance. He only goes for those last hours. If it is not the last hours, he is not there." "After the patient dies, Oscar, just gets up and leaves the room," said Steve Farrow, executive director of Steere House."

   I found this article to be believeable from a different experience minutes before the North Ridge Earthquake in California. My son who was very young at the time was sleeping soundly as was I. It was during the wee hours of the morning and my kitty Cheyenne woke up and began running around the apartment in a frenzy.

    She ran straight into my son's bedroom and did everything she could think of, including biting on his hair to wake him up. Once he was awake and standing on his feet she frantically took off to find me. When I was fully awake and on my feet she ran to our kitchen table and then stopped.

    Oh, she kept meowing a very weird sound and within minutes the ground began to shake, rumble and roll. The front windows were shattered and the ceiling had a three inch gap. The pool just outside my front door
began cracking and the water was sloshing into my apartment.

    To make a long story short, if Cheyenne had not awakened us minutes before the earthquake struck we would have been caught off guard as many others were.

    Currently I have three kitties, each adorable to me in their own affectionate way.
Keeping that in mind and knowing that I dearly love them all, it is Alex who stands out in this area.

    Her abilities of attentiveness far surpass the other two and she is the one who acts up when there is something that needs my attention.

    You see, if a kitty has the innate ability to sense when a human is going to die and dogs, which there have been many articles on, can sense a seizure or even "smell" cancer, what else are they able to sense?

    Dogs are used to sniff out drugs, perform tasks for the military, be the eyes for the blind, right? Perhaps now with the medical community begining to become involved, what else will we learn about?

 

**Thanks for making time to read this. As always, I appreciate your efforts.......