WOW Report » Archives » Not Feline So Hot?
July 26, 2007
Not Feline So Hot?
in Etcetera
Oscar the cat prowls the halls at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island. Oscar comforts patients but seems to have an uncanny ability to sense when death is near, often curling up to patients during their final hours of life. Comments our friend Jason, "I don't know what's more disturbing: the fact that it's really true that cats are soul suckers, or that this one's wondering around a nursing home sucking souls at will and this news item takes the approach that it's cute and wonderful that the cat is the "harbinger of death." Oh yeah, the phrase "harbinger of death" is actually used, like it's a good thing." (Source; photo: Stew Milne/AP)
Related entries:
- Critical Mess: We found this list today taped to...
- Melissa Auf der Maur: It's really puzzling to us that although...
- Ed Magaña's Friday Vid Bits: Ed wows us this week with Mariah...
- Welcome to the Jungle: According to Survival International, there are still...
- Don't You Wish Your Office Was Hot Like Ours?: If they're good enough for James St...
Comments
-- Bunny | July 29, 2007 9:10 AM
It IS a good thing to be such a cute and cuddly "harbinger of death" when you realize that the ward is a geriatric ward for demented elderly patients who are there because of Alzheimer's and other mental disorders. All of the patients visited by the cat checked out long before it came a calling.
What hasn't been covered well enough by the media is the possibility that this situation presents to further our knowledge and understanding about end of life issues. Is the cat smelling a change in hormones or pheromones? Is there some other interaction going on? It will be interesting to see how many other cats can do this too...