Crunchy Mustard

At the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, when Oscar shows up, you know it’s time to die.

Apparently, the cat has a sort of sixth sense as to when patients are going to die. He’ll curl up next to them during their final hours, and then stay with them as they pass on.

His accuracy is astounding: after being observed in 25 correct cases, nurses will call family members once he has chosen someone to let them know that it is time. According to Oscar, this means they have less than four hours to live.

“He doesn’t make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die,” said Dr. David Dosa 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.

Oscar would make his own rounds just like the staff of the facility. He sniffs and observes patients, then sits beside those who he thinks will die in a few hours.

Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill they probably don’t know he’s there, so patients aren’t aware he’s a harbinger of death. Most families are grateful for the advanced warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put outside, he paces and meows his displeasure.

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Oscar recently received a wall plaque publicly commending his “compassionate hospice care.”