An interesting story has been in the news and on the blogosphere lately about Oscar, a cat who can apparently tell when nursing home patients are going to die by curling up next to them in their final hours. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, “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.”
According to a CNN.com article, the families of the gravely ill nursing home patients mostly appreciate the advance warning he provides. At first I found this fact surprising because I thought the families would have been terrified of this feline harbinger of death. Thinking about it more, I would find a lot of comfort knowing that a gravely ill family member was being cuddled by a loving cat in their last moments.
Here are a few other places with their take on the Oscar story:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/4/328 - The New England Journal of Medicine article referenced above.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/death.cat.ap/index.html - The CNN.com article referenced above.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/7060 - This one features a bunch of LOLcat cartoons people have created (warning, not all of these are in the best taste).
http://lolcats.com/ - A link to the official LOLcat website, so you know what “LOLcat” even means. http://digg.com/offbeat_news/The_LOLcat_of_death_pics - The previous article is very popular on social bookmarking website Digg.com
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on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 10:44 pm
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