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Oscar is obviously a Buddhist cat. He has a lot of compassion for people, the way he cuddles up to them before they die. Then he performs a Buddhist "Clear Light" technique to assist the people in passing through the Bardos and into the Void.: Click-2-Listen Cat's a furry grim reaper By RAY HENRY Associated Press Published on: 07/26/07 PROVIDENCE, R.I. Dogs can sometimes predict an epileptic owner's seizure or sniff at an owner's mole, signaling a possible cancer. Now, it appears a cat can predict the deaths of patients in a nursing home. STEW MILNE/Associated Press (ENLARGE) Oscar the cat lives at a hospice care facility. See more photos of Oscar More Science news More Nation/World news When Oscar curls up on a patient's bed and stays there, the staff knows it's time to call the family. It usually means the patient has less than four hours to live. The feline's accuracy has been observed in 25 cases at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. "He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one," said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University. The 2-year-old Oscar was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third- floor dementia unit at Steere House, which treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses. After about six months, the staff noticed the cat would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and observe patients, and those he stayed with would wind up dying in a few hours. Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously and is generally aloof. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people," he said.
